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'''Whether exploring a national park in the SAVA region or just travelling through Sambava, the de facto world capital of vanilla agriculture, a tour of a vanilla plantation combined with a visit to a vanilla production facility can give visitors an insight into the lenghty and labour intensive process of transforming the green fruits of the vanilla orchid into a fragrant black natural vanilla spice that is the much highly appreciated ingredient in quality ice creams, pastries along with and countless other food products.'''
What can be seen depends on the activities that are happening at the time of visiting. Between May and June, the picking of green vanilla beans is done across plantations on the northwest coast around Sambava, Antalaha and Vohemar as well as further inland, while at higher altitudes, around Andapa and Marojejy, the harvesting usually takes place in July and early August.
After harvesting, the green vanilla crops are brought by the farmers to organised green vanilla markets across all vanilla producing regions where buyers will place bids for their yearly harvests. A minimum price is set by the governent each year, which in 2022 was 75,000 Ar per kilogram of green vanilla.
The crops are bought mostly by exporters and producers who manage the months-long transforming process of the green vanilla beans into black vanilla beans. The beans will lose moisture and shrink during the drying process and every six kilos of green beans will yeild approximately one kilogram of black vanilla beans.
Througout the transformation, known as the curing process, the beans are graded and grouped into classifications: Grade A being Gourmet Quality, Grade B Extract quality and Grade C which are known as Cuts & Splits. The classifications are presumed to be sometimes mistaken for indicators of quality, but they are in fact classifications of himidity humidity and suitability for different end-uses. Low-humidity beans are best suited for large-scale food processing purposes since they can easily be ground into powder and mixed into various food products. Grade B, or Extract grade vanilla beans, is a the definition for the vanilla that is typically considered typically suited for the production of vanilla extracts, while Grade A beans, or gourmet quality beans, are those selected in part for their appearance and therefore more attractive to favoured by chefs and end-consumers who will typically split open the pods to use for in various home cooking and baking creations. Yet, all grades can be used in cooking and baking purposes. While grade A may have a stronger scent and a better overall appearance, Grade B or even C with its low moisture content will offer the greatest volume per kilogram, effectively providing more vanilla and flavouring for the same weight and often at a lower price than Grade A beans.
Vanilla beans grow best in light but shaded conditions. Partly and fully grown green vanilla beans can be seen at plantations between March and up until harvesting time.
Historically, the type of vanilla grown in Madagascar is of the Planifolia species, also known as Bourbon vanilla or simply Madagascar vanilla. The "Bourbon" part refers to partis a hostroical reference a French owned slave on La Reunion, then known as Bourbon Island, who discovered how to pollinate the vanilla orchids by handto bear their fiuits, since in the orchids its original environment, pollination only occurs by bees native to Mexico.
Apart from flavouring sweets in countless food and drink products, vanilla is used in essential oils, cosmetics, toiletries, perfumes as well as in medicines.
The medicinal values are ... The price of different vanilla has in part been determinded by its vanillin percentage, the higher the vanillin percentage, the the higher the price, with the Thaitian variety having fetched record prices in recent years while the Mexican variately (Pompona) having had the lowest with and the Magascan planifolia usually placed between the two. However, while While a high vanillin percentage may look good on paper, flavour studies have indicated shown that high values of 2% or more does not necesssarily improve equate to an improved taste quality. Instead, beans with a vanillin percentage value of around 1.7% were those considered to have the most balanced flavour profileand the highest overall score.
