Madagascar vanilla

From its botanical name Vanilla Planifolia, vanilla is a spice made up of the fruit of certain tropical orchids of Mexican origin.

Around 1880, Réunionese planters introduced the cultivation of vanilla for the first time in Madagascar.

Madagascar has now become the world's leading producer of vanilla. Its best production is centered in the northeast of the big island, in the SAVA region (Sambava, Antalaha, Vohémar and Andapa).

The vanilla tree is in the form of a flexible and slightly branched liana with leaves arranged alternately on each side of the stem. Its flowers, white or pale yellow in color, are grouped and form small bouquets.

Like women, vanilla takes nine months to reproduce and give life to green, odorless pods that look like green beans.

Better quality and a high vanillin rate requires the pods to mature.

The transformation of these odorless pods into a soft and pleasantly scented spice requires meticulous and methodical preparation.

The preparation stages are:

Scalding: it consists of soaking the green pods in water heated to 60 ° C for 3 minutes
Steaming: once the pods have been scalded, they will be placed in a large crate covered with a woolen blanket to block the steam. The pods will remain there 48 hours to obtain flexible chocolate brown pods.
Drying: after 48 hours, we calibrate the pods in the shade in order to ventilate them and give them a dark brown color. After one day, we start drying in the sun for several days.
Sizing: once the pods have become very flexible and shiny, they will be sorted according to their humidity, color and size, and then gathered in the form of boots.
Sizing: once the pods have become very flexible and shiny, they will be sorted according to their humidity, color and size, and then gathered in the form of boots.

The vanilla

Origin

Planting

Preparation