A vanilla bean consists of the pod and seeds. The average vanilla bean contains sixty thousand seeds. The seeds add a subtle depth of flavor and unique floral sweetness to baked goods. It is most effective to scrape the seeds into the sugar in a recipe and process them together; you can also allow the pod to steep in any liquid used in the recipe. After removing it, rinse the pod and dry it in a very low oven or near a hot burner. When it is dry, bury it in sugar. Use the resulting vanilla sugar in recipes, replacing about 8 percent of the sugar and omitting any vanilla called for.