Did you know that vanilla goes through 8 stages of preparation?
Vanilla, the only orchid with edible fruit, is a climbing plant. Its delicate, fragile flowers must be pollinated by hand: a precise gesture that launches a long, painstaking process.
Vanilla is a spice made by true craftsmen. The vanilla plant, a tropical orchid, produces flowers which, once fertilized, give rise to the famous beans. But before reaching our kitchens, vanilla undergoes a number of stages essential to the revelation of its aromas.
Behind the vanilla: meticulous craftsmanship
To obtain vanilla beans, powder or any other vanilla-based product, precise know-how is required. Eight steps are required to prepare and refine vanilla planifolia, a variety mainly grown in the Indian Ocean, renowned for its naturally high vanillin content.
Even before pollination, the planter carries out an essential step: the plant is "stressed". "In concrete terms, its shade is interrupted in the middle of a drought, which favors the appearance of flowers around three months later", as Katell Ramecourt, from the Norohy company, explains.
Flowering and harvesting
Naturally, the first stage is flowering, during which manual pollination is carried out by the vaniculturist, from September to December. Harvesting takes place several months later, between June and September, when the pods reach maturity.
scalding, steaming and drying
The vanilla is then scalded in water at 70°C for just 2 to 3 minutes. In this way, the vanilla leaves its vegetative state. The fruits are then placed in a box and covered with burlap and a polyethylene sheath. This allows them to develop their full aroma for 48 hours.
Refining, grading and packaging
The pods are then matured for 4 to 5 months to reveal their secondary aromas. They are sorted by color, measured, then packaged before being shipped to the four corners of the world.
