Pro chefs and casual cooks alike will soon create confections for the holiday season. The best-loved delicacies will have one of the world's most popular flavors in common -- vanilla, with its heady, aromatic taste combined with sweet, fruity and floral scents.

Americans consume about 1,200 tons of vanilla beans a year. But not all vanilla is the same, and it pays to know the different kinds before you begin your seasonal baking. Here’s a look at the two main vanilla beans available.

Madagascar beans

These beans are creamy, sweet, smooth and mellow and work well in rich foods and in recipes that call for high heat, like cookies. Indonesian vanilla is typically a lower quality vanilla that has smoky, woody flavor notes and is often sold in supermarkets and warehouse clubs as just "Pure Vanilla Extract."

Mexican beans

These beans are spicier and complement chocolate, cinnamon, cloves and other warm spices. The fourth kind of bean, Tahitian vanilla, is more delicate and works best in cooler cooked foods like refrigerated and frozen desserts, fruit pies and sauces, smoothies and shakes.

- ARA


Creamy Vanilla Sweet Potatoes

4 medium sweet potatoes
Canola oil
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter softened
1/4 cup real maple syrup
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract (we recommend Nielsen-Massey Tahitian)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
5 strips bacon, crisp-cooked and crumbled

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash sweet potatoes and lightly coat skins with canola oil. Pierce each potato several times with a fork, place the potatoes on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for one hour or until fork-tender.

Cut the hot potatoes into halves. Scoop the pulp into a mixing bowl, discarding the skins. Beat at medium speed for one minute using an electric mixer. Add cream cheese, butter, syrup, vanilla extract, salt and pepper. Whip until creamy.

Spoon whipped potatoes into six ramekins coated with nonstick cooking spray and top with the bacon. Place ramekins on a baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 375-degree oven for five to eight minutes or until heated through. Alternatively, they may be reheated in a microwave. Serves six.