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'''Whether visiting one of the nationals exploring a national park in the SAVA region or passing just travelling through Sambava, the de facto capital of the world's vanilla agriculture, a tour of a vanilla plantation combined with a visit to a vanilla plantation and preparation production facility offers will give visitors an insight into the lenghty and labour intensive process by which of transforming the green fruits of vanilla is transformed from a beautiful orchid orchids into the highly versiitile fragrant black natural vanilla spice that will add certain magical flavours to a wide variety of products from craft is the world's favourite ingredient in quality ice creams, pastries and countless sweet deserts, drinks, perfumes and much much moreother food products.'''

What can be seen depends on the activities that are happening ongoing at the time, which changes slightly from season to seasonof a visit. Generally speaking, during Between May and June, harvesting of green vanilla beans are happening along is done across plantations on the northwest coast around Sambava, Antalaha and Vohemar as well as further into the countryside. At inland, while at higher altitudes, around Andapa and Marojejy, the harvesting usually takes place in July or and early August.

After harvesting, the green vanilla beans crops are traded at organised market places brought by the farmers to vanilla markets across the vanilla producing regions where buyers will place competing bids bid for farmers and cooperatives yearly harvesttheir produce. These markets are regulated and a A minimum price is set by the industry and governmentgovernent each year, which in 2022 was 75,000 Ar per kilogram of green vanilla. The green vanilla is bought mostly by local exporters who manage the months-long transforming of the green beans beans into the black pods that are most familiar to consumers.

Througout The crops are sold mainly to exporters and producers who manage the transformations process, also known as approximately three months long transformation of the curing, green beans into black vanilla beans. As the beans are graded lose moisture and grouped into classified based on suitability for different end-uses: Grade A being Gourmet Qualityshrink during the drying process, Grade B Extract quality and Grade C which are also so-called Cuts & Splits. The classifications are based by the level every six kilos of green beans will produce approximately one kilogram of humidityblack vanilla beans.

Low-humidity beans are suitable for large processing purposesThrougout the transformation, known as the curing process, since the dryer beans are easily ground into powder graded and mixed into various food products. grouped by classifications: Grade A being Gourmet Quality, Grade B, or Extract grade vanilla beansquality and Grade C known as Cuts & Splits. These classifications, is a loose definition for the vanilla beans that are typically set aside sometimes mistaken for the production indicators of vanilla extracts, while Grade A beans, being gourmet quality, are selected in part for their visual appearance, being unsplit pods as usually preferred by chefs based on humidity and thereby suitability for home baking purposesdifferent endn-uses.

The above saidLow-humidity beans are suited for large-scale food processing purposes as they can easily be ground into powder and mixed with various food products. Grade B, or Extract grade vanilla beans, is the vanilla grade that is typically used for the production of vanilla extracts, while Grade A beans, or gourmet quality beans, which have the highest humidity, are typically favoured by chefs and end-consumers who will split open the pods to scrape out its seeds to mix into various cooking and baking creations. But all grades can be used in cooking and baking. While grade A may have a stronger scent and a better overall appearance, the drier Grade B or even C with their low its lowest moisture levels, although lacking in appearance, content will offer greater the highest volume per kilogram, giving effectively providing more vanilla and flavour flavouring for the same weightat a lower price than Grade A beans.

In Madagascar, vanilla is rarely used in home cooking or home baking and is almost exclusively sold as cash-crop farmed for export purposes. Since the last peak price of black vanilla peaked at around USD 500 per kilo in 2018 and 2019, countless farmers have invested their time and efforts in cultivating specifically vanillaas their primary cash crop.

Vanilla beans grow best in light but shaded conditions. Partly and fully grown green vanilla beans can be seen at many plantations between March and up until harvesting time. Historically, the type of vanilla grown in Madagascar is the Planifolia species, also known as Bourbon vanilla or simply Madagascar vanilla. The species originates from Mesoamerica where it grew centuries ago. The "Bourbon" part is a hostorical reference a French owned slave on La Reunion, then known as Île Bourbon, who discovered how to pollinate the vanilla orchids by hand to bear fiuits, since in their original habitat, pollination can only occur 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 and the Magascan planifolia usually placed between. However, studies have shown that high values of 2% or more does not necesssarily equate to an improved taste quality. So a high vanillin percentage is something that can just look good on paper. Instead, beans with a vanillin percentage value of around 1.7% were considered to have the most balanced flavour profile and the highest overall score. There are subtle taste differences, which may easily only be distinquisged by a master chef or gourmandise, and while the terroir makes a difference, Planifolia is known for its floral notes, Pompona for having a more subtle flavour and Thaitian being known for its anaise notes and sweetness. As Thaitian is hybrid between Planifolia and Odorata, it may prove difficult to tell the differnce between a Planifolia and Tahitian grown in a same terroir in for example Madagascar.  == Videos == Sorting Cuts & Splits * WB-sx4b1JLg