So one interesting thing they had was Mexican vanilla extract. It smells less medicinal and more flowery/sweet than their Madagascar vanilla. When I went up to the counter to purchase I said something like ‘gosh I’ve never tried this one before!’, and the woman working behind the counter said that they only carry Mexican vanilla in the stores, not in the catalog. Apparently very little of this type of vanilla is imported, and Penzey only gets enough to stock the brick-and-mortar stores.

Hmm, but now that I look at the Penzey’s website it looks like they carry Mexican vanilla beans for mail order, but not the extract.

Aaaanyways, if you visit them on a Sunday, you can also hit the farmer’s market in the parking lot behind the store. Bonus!