Difference between revisions of "Vanilla discovery tour"

Revision as of 02:33, 30 July 2022

Whether exploring a national park in the SAVA region or just travelling through Sambava, the de facto capital of the world's vanilla, a tour of a vanilla plantation combined with a visit to a vanilla production and export facility will provide an insight into the lenghty and labour intensive procedure of transforming the green fruits of the vanilla orchid into its fragrant black natural vanilla spice that makes it the much loved and highly priced ingredient in certain quality ice creams, chocolates and gourmet deserts.

What can be seen and experienced will depend the activities that are ongoing during a visit. Between May and June, the plucking of green vanilla beans are completed across plantations on the northwest coast around Sambava, Antalaha and Vohemar as well as further into the countryside, while at higher altitudes, around Andapa and Marojejy, the harvesting usually takes place in July or August.

After harvesting, the green vanilla crops are brought by farmers to organised green vanilla trade events across the vanilla producing regions where buyers place bids for the yearly harvests. A minimum price is for the farmers crops 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 whowill manage the months-long transforming process of the green beans into black vanilla beans. As the bens lose moisture and shrink in size during the drying process, for every six kilos of green vanilla, approximately one kilo of black vanilla beans will result.

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 sometimes confused with indicators of overall quality but are in fact classifications suitability for different end-uses and levels of himidity. Low-humidity beans are simply suitable for large-scale food processing purposes, since they can easily ground into powder and mixed into various food products. Grade B, or Extract grade vanilla beans, is the definition for the vanilla that is typically suited for the production of vanilla extracts, while Grade A beans, or gourmet quality beans, are selected in part for their appearance.

Grade A beans are usually preferred by chefs and for home baking purposes, especially by end-consumers. Yet, all grades can be used in cooking and baking. While grade A may have a stronger scent and a better overall appearance, Grade B or even C with the lowest moisture will offer the greatest volume per kilogram, effectively providing more vanilla and flavouring for the same weight and often at a lower price.

In Madagascar, vanilla is rarely used in cooking and home baking and is almost exclusively farmed for export purposes. Since the price of black vanilla peaked in 2018 and 2019 at around USD 500 per kilo, countless farmers invested time and effort in cultivating vanilla as a main cash crop.

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 a French owned slave on La Reunion, known as Bourbon Island, who discovered the hand-pollination method, since without hand-pollination in a the orchids original environment, pollination can only be performend ony by a bee native to Mexico.

Apart from flavouring sweets in countless food and drink products, vanilla is also used in essential oils, cosmetics, toiletries, perfumes as well as in medicines.