Life Cycle of a Vanilla Bean
Vanilla is a vine crop, and one of the only orchids with commercially useful
fruits. As with raising most orchids, cultivating vanilla is a labor-intensive
pursuit, requiring an extensive degree of specialized knowledge and care.
Families in Imorona have been cultivating vanilla for over 80 years, using
techniques and knowledge passed down through generations.
Vanilla completes one crop cycle each year:
Planting:
Land is selected for its soil, moisture content, and wind protection. Vanilla
vines are planted along with live tutor trees, which grow along with the vine.
Vanilla requires a balance of sun and shade, and the farmers must
constantly care for the area, weeding, mulching, re-wrapping, and pruning
the vines and the surrounding plants.
Flowering and Hand-Pollinating:
After approximately three years, well cared for vines will produce yellow-white
flowers between the months of November and January. As no natural
pollinators of vanilla exist in Madagascar, farmers must pollinate each flower
by hand. Farmers and their families must thus visit their vanilla fields
everyday during the flowering period to search for new flowers, to ensure that
no potential vanilla beans are lost. Each flower produces one vanilla bean.
Fruiting:
Flowers that were successfully pollinated will develop a long, green vanilla
bean. The beans are ripe for harvest between April and June. Knowing the
exact time to harvest vanilla beans is vital to the process of producing
high-quality vanilla, as picking the beans too soon or too late negatively
effects the strength of the vanilla flavor.
Blanching:
After harvest, the green beans are ready to be processed. The beans are
placed into woven baskets and plunged briefly into vats of hot water, to stop
the growth process. The cooked beans are then sweated, by being wrapped
tightly in wool blankets and stored for one to two days.
Curing:
The blanched beans are then put out to cure in the sun a few hours each day,
over a period of several months. The exact time of curing depends on a
variety of daily conditions, including the amount of sun available and the
humidity. Each day, after curing, beans are frequently worked by hand to
improve their shape and texture. The beans are then re-wrapped and stored
overnight indoors. This process occurs from the end of May until September.
Finished Gourmet Vanilla:
Once the beans are nearly cured, they have their distinctive black color,
fragrant smell, and soft, leathery texture. The subtle curing process is then
completed indoors, where vanilla beans are stored on well-ventilated, indoor
drying racks for several more weeks. The beans are then bundled by size
and quality and stored for shipment in boxes lined with special waxed paper.
Vanilla is a vine crop, and one of the only orchids with commercially useful
fruits. As with raising most orchids, cultivating vanilla is a labor-intensive
pursuit, requiring an extensive degree of specialized knowledge and care.
Families in Imorona have been cultivating vanilla for over 80 years, using
techniques and knowledge passed down through generations.
Vanilla completes one crop cycle each year:
Planting:
Land is selected for its soil, moisture content, and wind protection. Vanilla
vines are planted along with live tutor trees, which grow along with the vine.
Vanilla requires a balance of sun and shade, and the farmers must
constantly care for the area, weeding, mulching, re-wrapping, and pruning
the vines and the surrounding plants.
Flowering and Hand-Pollinating:
After approximately three years, well cared for vines will produce yellow-white
flowers between the months of November and January. As no natural
pollinators of vanilla exist in Madagascar, farmers must pollinate each flower
by hand. Farmers and their families must thus visit their vanilla fields
everyday during the flowering period to search for new flowers, to ensure that
no potential vanilla beans are lost. Each flower produces one vanilla bean.
Fruiting:
Flowers that were successfully pollinated will develop a long, green vanilla
bean. The beans are ripe for harvest between April and June. Knowing the
exact time to harvest vanilla beans is vital to the process of producing
high-quality vanilla, as picking the beans too soon or too late negatively
effects the strength of the vanilla flavor.
Blanching:
After harvest, the green beans are ready to be processed. The beans are
placed into woven baskets and plunged briefly into vats of hot water, to stop
the growth process. The cooked beans are then sweated, by being wrapped
tightly in wool blankets and stored for one to two days.
Curing:
The blanched beans are then put out to cure in the sun a few hours each day,
over a period of several months. The exact time of curing depends on a
variety of daily conditions, including the amount of sun available and the
humidity. Each day, after curing, beans are frequently worked by hand to
improve their shape and texture. The beans are then re-wrapped and stored
overnight indoors. This process occurs from the end of May until September.
Finished Gourmet Vanilla:
Once the beans are nearly cured, they have their distinctive black color,
fragrant smell, and soft, leathery texture. The subtle curing process is then
completed indoors, where vanilla beans are stored on well-ventilated, indoor
drying racks for several more weeks. The beans are then bundled by size
and quality and stored for shipment in boxes lined with special waxed paper.
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Copyright 2007, From the Field, Inc.
| Beans ready for processing |
| Planting vanilla vines |
| Hand-pollinating flowers |
| Blanching vanilla |
| Finished vanilla |
| Curing in the sun |
| Vanilla pods on the vine |
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| From the Field Trading Company |
| Fair trade products of Madagascar |