Vanilla Sauce

Norwegians are crazy about their “Vanilla Sauce.”  There is nothing in our world that can compare to it.   They put it on nearly everything sweet.  Fresh or canned fruit, jello, pudding and ice cream are the most common items that get doused with the stuff.  As one cousin says, “The blueberries are just an excuse to have Vanilla Sauce.” 

In every house in the whole of Norway, one will find Piano brand “Vaniljesaus.” Even at the neighborhood grocery store they have America’s equivalent of a salad bar, but with fruit only and the “dressing” is Vanilla Sauce.

I can understand the craze, that stuff is good! It tastes like the custard inside a donut, only with more vanilla flavor. It’s made from whole milk, cream, sugar and powdered vanilla. We’ve had it many times in Norway, as it’s a common after-dinner treat - sort of a pre-dessert.

Tine, a Norwegian company, makes Vanilla Sauce, and on the front of the carton it says “Original recipe since 1971,” which is about when the craze started. There used to be a rum flavored sauce that was used on many sweets, but once the vanilla flavor hit the stores, it became a national sensation.

In Norway, the only cooking vanilla available is in a powdered form.  I’ve wondered if the reason they only sell it powered is because our liquid vanilla in America is alcohol based.

Norwegians tax alcohol so much, they must have been in a quandary as to what to do about vanilla extract. If they taxed it the way they tax one can of beer, no one could afford their precious Vanilla Sauce and there would surely be a revolt similar to The Boston Tea Party.  Making their vanilla into a powder solves the whole problem and keeps all the alcoholics from drinking up their national supply of vanilla.

My son, Kaleb, and I had a contest when we moved to Norway as to who could learn Norwegian the quickest. He went to public school and the government required me to go to language school.  At that time, everyone entering the country between the ages of 16 and 55 was obligated to take 250 hours of Norwegian lessons – paid for by the Norwegian government.  That benefit has changed in the last year, and now immigrants have to pay for their own lessons, so I lucked out.

I’d like to thank all the alcohol drinkers in Norway for my free schooling, as I’m sure some of the exurbanite taxes they paid on their liquor, filtered down to pay for my free Norwegian lessons.  That was one sweet deal, almost as good as their Vanilla Sauce.