So what's with the spike in vanilla prices?!  Just a few months ago I purchased a small 4oz bottle of vanilla bean paste for about $10.00 today the same bottle was $23.!!!. Is there a shortage? I haven't noticed any other extracts spiking in price. 

Most of the world's best vanilla comes from the island of Madagascar. I believe there have been disease outbreaks on the island this year, which might have led to a spike in prices if the harvest was poor.

Oh, absolutely.  I think it's been about a year now that vanilla basically doubled in price.  Sucks.

https://www.vanillaqueen.com/expensive-vanilla/

Thanks Johnson6ofus, interesting read. Had a feeling this was the reason for the increase in price. 

That article is scary stuff... there is NOTHING like real, quality vanilla!