Household Ingredients Compared › Essences and Vanilla (Singapore)

Essences and vanilla: what's actually in it?

Vanilla is the most mislabelled flavour on the baking shelf, and this page exists to show it. A pure vanilla extract is vanilla beans steeped in alcohol and water — two or three ingredients, and the beans are the point. A vanilla essence is usually a flavouring substance in propylene glycol and water with caramel colour — no vanilla bean in the list at all. A vanilla oil (Bake King) is the same kind of flavouring with a different name. A vanilla bean paste sits in between: real vanilla extract with seeds, plus sugar and a thickener. All four are legitimate products for different uses; the list is what tells you which one you are holding. This page also covers other essences (pandan, bandung, butter vanilla) because they share the same shelf and the same flavouring chemistry.

This page does not give a health score or a "best" pick. It shows the ingredient list as printed, with the country of manufacture as printed, and flags where a list could not be verified.

The headline, in 30 seconds

Essence is not extract. Bake King Vanilla Oil lists 'Flavouring substance, Propylene glycol (E1520), Water-filtered and permitted food colour, Caramel (E150C)' — no vanilla bean anywhere in the list. McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract lists only 'Vanilla bean extractives in water, and alcohol (41%)'.
Vanilla bean paste is the middle ground. Queen Organic Vanilla Bean Paste lists vanilla bean extract with seeds, sugar and inulin, thickened with tragacanth gum — real vanilla, plus sugar and thickener, with 20% alcohol by volume.
There are two different 'Bake King' brands and they must not be mixed. The Singapore Bake King (Gim Hin Lee, bakeking.com.sg) is the one sold at FairPrice. An Indian 'Bake King' (Sweet King India) sells essences on Desertcart and Flipkart with different lists and 'Country of Origin: India'. None of the Indian brand's listings was used on this page.
The flagship Bake King Vanilla Essence could not be panelled. Its SG brand page exists, but the full ingredient wording was not retrieved in this pass — and the search results for it are polluted by the Indian brand. It is in seen-but-not-verified, not panelled on a guess.

At a glance

Product	Pack size (as printed)	Type	First ingredient	Country of manufacture (as printed)
Bake King Vanilla Oil	not stated	Vanilla flavouring	Flavouring substance	Singapore
Bake King Pandan Coconut Essence	not stated	Essence	Flavouring substance	Not stated
Bake King Bandung Essence	not stated	Essence	Nature identical and artificial flavourings	Not stated
LorAnn Butter Vanilla Bakery Emulsion	not stated	Emulsion	Water	Not stated
Queen Natural Vanilla Concentrated Extract	not stated	Vanilla extract	Concentrated extract of vanilla beans	Made in Australia
Queen Organic Vanilla Bean Paste	not stated	Vanilla bean paste	Vanilla bean extract with seeds	Made in Australia
McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract	not stated	Vanilla extract	Vanilla bean extractives in water	Packed in USA (US listing)
RedMan Vanilla Essence 1X	not stated	Vanilla essence	Sorbitol	Not stated

Panelled with verbatim lists: 8 products. Seen-but-not-verified: see the list below. No prices are shown: they change weekly and would go stale. This site compares ingredients only.

Bake King Vanilla Oil

Pack size: not stated · Made in: Singapore (as printed)

Ingredients (Bake King official SG site): Flavouring substance, Propylene glycol (E1520), Water-filtered and permitted food colour, Caramel (E150C).

Halal certified. Despite the name, this is a flavouring, not an extract: the list names a flavouring substance, a propylene glycol carrier, water and caramel colour — no vanilla bean, no alcohol. The brand site prints 'Singapore' at the end of the ingredient line, recorded here as country of manufacture as printed on the brand site. Halal Flavouring — not an extract Origin: Singapore

Bake King Pandan Coconut Essence

Pack size: not stated · Made in: not stated (as printed)

Ingredients (Bake King official SG site): Flavouring substance, Glycerine (E422), Propylene glycol (E1520) and Water-filtered.

A pandan-coconut flavouring on a glycerine / propylene glycol carrier. No pandan leaf in the list — the flavour is a flavouring substance, as the name 'essence' implies. Country of manufacture: not stated on the retrieved page. Flavouring

Bake King Bandung Essence

Pack size: not stated · Made in: not stated (as printed)

Ingredients (Bake King official SG site): Nature identical and artificial flavourings, Propylene glycol, Glycerol, Triacetin and Permitted food colour E122 & E127.

Bandung (rose) flavouring. The list is explicit that the flavourings are nature-identical and artificial, and the pink comes from two permitted colours: E122 (azorubine) and E127 (erythrosine). Country of manufacture: not stated. Flavouring Colours: E122, E127

LorAnn Butter Vanilla Bakery Emulsion — via Bake King SG

Pack size: not stated · Made in: not stated (as printed)

Ingredients (Bake King official SG site, LorAnn brand): Water, Propylene Glycol, Artificial Flavours, Modified Corn Starch, Xanthan Gum, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate (Preservative).

A water-based emulsion, not an extract: it is designed to be used 1:1 in place of a baking extract, with a butter-plus-vanilla flavour, and it does not bake out the way an alcohol extract can. LorAnn notes it is the substitute for the flavour known as Butavan. Country of manufacture: not stated on the retrieved page (LorAnn is a US brand; that is not recorded as the country of manufacture). Emulsion — not an extract

Queen Natural Vanilla Concentrated Extract — Australian list, SG pack not transcribed

Pack size: not stated · Made in: Made in Australia (as printed)

Ingredients (Queen / retailer lists): Concentrated Extract of Vanilla Beans (Glucose Syrup (from corn), Water, Alcohol (10% vol.), Vanilla Bean Extractives).

A real extract, concentrated: vanilla bean extractives with glucose syrup, water and 10% alcohol. Made in Australia from local and imported ingredients, per the brand. Flag: Australian listing; Queen is sold in Singapore via Shopee SG and import channels, but no SG pack transcription was retrieved. Country of manufacture: Made in Australia. Extract Alcohol 10% Origin: Australia

Queen Organic Vanilla Bean Paste — Australian / Shopee SG lists, SG pack not transcribed

Pack size: not stated · Made in: Made in Australia (as printed)

Ingredients (Shopee SG and retailer lists, agreeing): Vanilla Bean Extract with Seeds* [Water, Alcohol*, Pure Vanilla Extract*, Vanilla Seeds*], Sugar*, Inulin*; Thickener: Tragacanth gum. Contains 20% alcohol by vol. (*From certified organic production.)

Real vanilla beans with seeds visible, in a paste: vanilla extract with seeds, sugar and inulin, thickened with tragacanth gum. One teaspoon has the seed content of a whole vanilla bean, per the brand. Flag: Australian product sold in Singapore via Shopee SG (LiveWell SG); no SG pack transcription was retrieved. Country of manufacture: Made in Australia. Paste with seeds Organic Alcohol 20% Origin: Australia

McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract — US retailer list, SG pack not transcribed

Pack size: not stated · Made in: Packed in USA (US listing) (as printed)

Ingredients (US retailer listings, agreeing): VANILLA BEAN EXTRACTIVES IN WATER, AND ALCOHOL (41%).

The reference pure extract: vanilla bean extractives in water and alcohol, nothing else, no corn syrup, gluten-free. Flag: US retailer list; McCormick is sold at FairPrice in Singapore, but no SG pack transcription was retrieved, so verify on the SG pack — including whether the SG bottle is the same 41% alcohol formulation. Country of manufacture as printed on the US listing: 'Packed in USA'. Extract Alcohol 41%

RedMan Vanilla Essence 1X — pack shown in a social video, needs confirmation

Pack size: not stated · Made in: not stated (as printed)

Ingredients (as shown on the pack in a social-media video): Sorbitol, Water, Propylene Glycol, Permitted Flavour, Modified Starch, Caramel Sugar Syrup, Thickener (E413 Tragacanth Gum), Stabiliser (E466 Sodium Carboxymethyl Cellulose).

A vanilla essence, not an extract: sorbitol first, then water and propylene glycol, with permitted flavour, modified starch, caramel sugar syrup, tragacanth gum and CMC. Flag: the list was transcribed from a pack shown on screen in a social-media video, not from a retailer ingredient section or a pack photo held by this project — it is panelled exactly as shown, but it needs a direct pack photo before publish. RedMan is Phoon Huat's house brand. Country of manufacture: not stated. Essence — not an extract

Seen but not verified — do not panel until checked

Bake King Vanilla Essence (26 ml / 250 ml / 500 ml / 1 L) — the flagship Bake King essence, listed at FairPrice and on the Bake King SG site (Halal certified, 1/4–1/2 teaspoon per recipe). The full ingredient wording was not retrieved in this pass, and search results for it are polluted by the Indian 'Bake King' brand's essence (different product, country of origin India). Not panelled on a guess.
Bake King Butta Vanilla Essence — listed on the Bake King SG site; ingredient wording not retrieved.
Bake King Banana Essence, Bake King Pandan Paste, Bake King Rose / Strawberry / Chocolate and other essences — listed on the Bake King SG site and at FairPrice (Banana Essence, Pandan Paste are FairPrice-featured); ingredient wording not retrieved for any of them.
Queen Fairtrade Vanilla Extract with Seeds (50 ml) — Queen specification retrieved (Fairtrade vanilla bean extract with vanilla seeds: invert sugar syrup, alcohol 20% by vol., water, vanilla bean extractives, vanilla seeds; made in Australia from at least 88% Australian ingredients; alcohol 16 g per 100 g); SG sale not verified, so not panelled as an SG product.
RedMan Vanilla Extract 100% Pure (Halal, 33 ml) — listed in SG baking channels; no ingredient list retrieved.
Dr Oetker vanilla sugar / vanilla extract, vanilla pods / whole vanilla beans — vanilla sugar is sugar with vanilla, and whole beans have no ingredient list (they are a single spice); neither was verified on an SG pack in this pass.
Imitation vanilla flavour (Baker's / McCormick imitation) — US imitation vanilla lists water, propylene glycol, vanillin, caramel color, sodium benzoate, phosphoric acid and ethyl vanillin; SG sale not verified, so not panelled as an SG product.

Nutrition — what the numbers say

All figures in the sortable table are as sold, per 100 g (or per 100 ml for liquids, where the source gives per-100 ml). Click a column header to sort low to high; click again for high to low. Rows marked "not stated" always sort last — a missing figure is not zero. Per-serving-only figures are in a separate table below and are never sorted against per-100 g figures.

Salt and sodium: salt = sodium × 2.5. The table shows sodium as printed (in mg) with the salt equivalent in brackets. Sodium is not presented as salt, and salt is not presented as sodium.

Total vs added sugars: Singapore packs list total sugars, not added sugars. A total-sugars figure is never labelled here as "added sugar". Where a source states an added-sugars figure separately, it is noted. The ingredient list remains the evidence for added sugar versus naturally occurring sugars.

Open Food Facts is a community database and is flagged as secondary where used: the pack and the retailer nutrition section take precedence if they disagree. Figures marked "not stated" were not in the source retrieved; they are not estimated, borrowed from another variant, or copied across flavours. No Nutri-Grade is quoted or assigned on any page in this batch — no official Nutri-Grade was found printed on any of these products, and these are not drinks in the Nutri-Grade sense except where a drink is involved (none here).

No per-100 g nutrition panel was verified for any product on this page in this pass, and no per-serving panel was verified either. That is a gap, not a zero: these products are used in small quantities, but their panels still need retrieving from SG packs or retailer nutrition sections before publish. No per-100 g or per-serving nutrition panel was verified for any essence or vanilla product on this page. The Queen Fairtrade Vanilla Extract specification gives alcohol at 16 g per 100 g and alcohol content at or below 20% by volume, but that product is not panelled here, so its figures are not tabled. Essences are used by the teaspoon, but their panels still need retrieving from SG packs before publish.

Seen but not verified (nutrition): no per-100 g nutrition panel was verified in this pass for Bake King Vanilla Oil, Bake King Pandan Coconut Essence, Bake King Bandung Essence, LorAnn Butter Vanilla Bakery Emulsion, Queen Natural Vanilla Concentrated Extract, Queen Organic Vanilla Bean Paste, McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract, RedMan Vanilla Essence 1X. Their ingredient panels are unchanged; their nutrition figures are not estimated here.

How to read a essences and vanilla label — the jargon, in plain English

Vanilla extract (pure): Vanilla beans steeped in alcohol and water. The list is short: vanilla bean extractives, water, alcohol. The alcohol percentage is part of the product (10% for Queen Concentrated, 41% for McCormick, 20% for Queen paste).
Vanilla essence / vanilla flavouring: A flavouring substance in a carrier (usually propylene glycol and water) with colour. It tastes of vanilla but the list contains no vanilla bean. Most supermarket 'vanilla essence' is this, not extract.
Vanilla oil: Bake King's name for a vanilla flavouring. It is not an oil in the cooking-oil sense, and it is not an extract — read the list, not the name.
Vanilla bean paste: Vanilla extract with seeds, plus sugar and a thickener (here inulin and tragacanth gum). The seeds are visible in the paste; one teaspoon replaces one vanilla bean.
Bakery emulsion: A water-based flavouring (here, butter vanilla) that does not bake out at oven temperatures the way alcohol-based extracts can. It is not an extract — its list starts with water.
Nature-identical flavouring: A flavouring chemically identical to a substance found in nature, but made synthetically. It is not the same claim as 'natural flavouring', and the list says which it is.
Propylene glycol (E1520): The carrier solvent in most essences and emulsions. It dissolves the flavouring and keeps it stable. Its presence is normal for an essence; its absence is the marker of a pure extract.
Vanillin / ethyl vanillin: The main flavour compound of vanilla, made synthetically. An imitation vanilla lists vanillin; a pure extract lists vanilla bean extractives. Both taste of vanilla; only one contains the bean.

What this page is not

Not a health score, and not a "best" pick. The products above are different products, and this page does not rank them.
Not a taste test, and not a price comparison. Prices change weekly; ingredients change less often, but still change.
Not complete. The products in seen-but-not-verified are not yet panelled, for the verification reasons given, not hidden.

Sources and method

Checked 12 November 2026 from: Bake King official SG site (Vanilla Oil: Flavouring substance, Propylene glycol (E1520), Water-filtered and permitted food colour, Caramel (E150C), Singapore; Pandan Coconut: Flavouring substance, Glycerine (E422), Propylene glycol (E1520), Water-filtered; Bandung: Nature identical and artificial flavourings, Propylene glycol, Glycerol, Triacetin, Permitted food colour E122 & E127; LorAnn Butter Vanilla Bakery Emulsion: Water, Propylene Glycol, Artificial Flavours, Modified Corn Starch, Xanthan Gum, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate; Vanilla Essence page — description only, no full list retrieved); FairPrice essence-and-flavours category page (Bake King Banana Essence, Bake King Pandan Paste, RedMan Vanilla Essence, Bake King Vanilla Essence — featured, no ingredient sections retrieved); Queen brand specification and retailer lists (Natural Vanilla Concentrated Extract: Concentrated Extract of Vanilla Beans (Glucose Syrup (from corn), Water, Alcohol (10% vol.), Vanilla Bean Extractives), Made in Australia; Organic Vanilla Bean Paste via Shopee SG LiveWell SG: Vanilla Bean Extract with Seeds [Water, Alcohol, Pure Vanilla Extract, Vanilla Seeds], Sugar, Inulin, Thickener: Tragacanth gum, 20% alcohol by vol., Made in Australia; Fairtrade Vanilla Extract with Seeds spec — not panelled, SG sale not verified); US retailer listings for McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract (Vanilla Bean Extractives in Water and Alcohol (41%), Packed in USA); social-media video showing the RedMan Vanilla Essence 1X pack (Sorbitol, Water, Propylene Glycol, Permitted Flavour, Modified Starch, Caramel Sugar Syrup, Thickener E413, Stabiliser E466 — flagged as a video transcription). Cold Storage publishes no ingredient list on any product page, so its shelf could not be panelled from its site. Full per-fact source list is in the accompanying research notes. Nutrition: no panel was verified for any product on this page; nothing is estimated. Where a full pack list could not be verified, the product is in seen-but-not-verified instead of being panelled.