VanillaReview.com » packaging

Heilala Vanilla’s fantastic packaging

ian — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:21:53 +0000

These heat sealed bags with zipper tops are the best vanilla bean packaging I’ve seen.

According to Garth at Heilala Vanilla, these bags are actually designed for coffee:
We vacuum pack in 2.5 kg bricks for storage. Then we repack into the 250g bags we sent you when we dispatch. They are actually bags designed for coffee. The difficulty is the bags need to be non-permeable otherwise the vanilla keeps drying.

“Food Saver-ed(tm)” vanilla beans imprinted by vacuum bag

ian — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:16:02 +0000

This image shows the pattern left in beans that have been vacuum packed in textured “Food Saver” type bags. This was previously discussed. Many vendors use these bags. I highly recommend changing to a non-textured vacuum bag, or non-vacuum alternative.

Vendor Beanilla says that they recently switched to a non-textured vacuum bag.

Vacuum packing vanilla beans — good or bad?

ian — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:53:59 +0000

Vacuum packed vanilla beans will stay fresh for years, but I’ve often thought that the vacuum causes subtle changes in bean texture.

Some vacuum packaging equipment exerts so much force on the beans that it draws moisture from the skin.
Some “FoodSaver(tm)” type vacuum bags have a heavy texture imprinted on the plastic. These plastic ridges help the vacuum device draw out every last bit of air, but they also leave a pattern on the beans. Vendor Beanilla reports that they recently stopped using textured bags for this reason.

These shots by Glenn at Amadeus Trading Co. demonstrate this beautifully, though all the vanilla from Amadeus I’ve seen has come loosely wrapped.

Photo: Amadeus Trading Company.

Glenn adds:

I think it’s not just “moisture,” but a combination of water moisture plus vanilla oils that are being drawn out. Otherwise, the residue would not have that brownish tinge. When these beans were packed, we were using a fairly cheap vacuum-sealer — like the kind one would use in a home kitchen. We have stopped vacuum-sealing our smaller orders just because we didn’t like the look you show in the picture.

There are commercial-model vacuum sealers that will do a better job.

We just decided, on balance, vacuum-sealing isn’t necessary, as gourmet beans should last at least six months to a year (many times longer) if stored properly. Exraction-grade beans will last essentially indefinitely.