Toranii syprups vs extracts

[mdanziger]

I found, in Walmart of all places, several flavors of the Torani Sugar Free flavored syrups.  I love the flavors.  Obvioulsy, when it comes to flavoring my coffee, or over CarbSmart ice cream, I use the syrups.  I know the extracts contain alcohol, and they don't taste very good straight up.  My question is when cooking or baking, when is is better to use a extract (i.e., vanilla) versus the flavored syrups?

Mark

[Elizabeth779]

Mark....that's a very good question, I've wondered that as well. 

[Doug Varrieur]

Hi Mark, I'm sure Umpa will chime in on this... I would guess it depends on what your baking. Umpa prefers emulsions over most everything when baking. They are more potent than extracts. I would think the syrups would be the least potent requiring much more liquid additive to flavor a recipe and of course they are already sweetened so that could raise havoc with the required amount of sweet flavor to base flavor.

Here's a link to emulsions- http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_15?url=search-alias%3Dgrocery&field-keywords=bakery+emulsion&sprefix=bakery+emulsion%2Cgrocery%2C254&rh=n%3A16310101%2Ck%3Abakery+emulsion

[umpa]

I like to use what I have in the pantry. I like the syrups if I want a light lingering flavor .Emulsions give bold flavor. Extracts are in the middle.I make my own vanilla extract because its so expensive!I buy my emulsions at Ross(Clothing store).They are in the coffee section and wicked cheap.My favorite is red velvet, well and rum for doug. On my recipes you can mix and match extracts,syrups, or emulsions but not the other ingredients.You can ask me on any recipe what you can subsitute.Its cheaper then wasting flour.

[shawn116]

I find that the syrups work great for the recipes that don't need to be cooked and need sweetness....other wise the extracts or emulsions are far better for flavor.  The flavors are too mild in the syrups for my taste and seem to get lost  .    I do use them along with extracts though.  For instance I love to use the the Torani Brown sugar and cinnamon when a recipe calls for brown sugar but there is usually a vanilla (or other) extract called for as well.