Dun Yong Market, an Asian grocery store in Amsterdam, invited us to a tasting panel of different soy sauces. You can also enter to be randomly selected for one of their monthly tasting panels, and read the full results and comments from previous panels at Tokowijzer (Dutch).

Here are our notes from this amazing tasting. We hope Dun Yong considers making these panels available to the public. Take the opportunity to try it yourself if you ever have the chance.

We had a great time meeting the coordinators, permanent panelists, and other invited guests. A big thanks to Dun Yong Market and FongYee for making this possible!

We began with an introduction to tofu, which was used as a tasting platform for the soy sauces. We tried tofus of various firmness and textures, some flavored with ingredients like egg, teriyaki, or five spice.

We then moved on to the main event: a blind taste test of 14 soy sauces. The sauces were served on rice and fried tofu, and each panelist was given a notes sheet to use after each tasting. We were surprised by the range of different flavors and levels of saltiness, and it was quite an experience to try them all in close succession.

1. Marukin Low Salt Soy Sauce (1L / €4.50)

Our ratings: 7.5 and 8

The first soy sauce of the evening. A low-sodium sauce, which completely surprised us because it is still sharp and full of flavor. It has a thin consistency and a fermented aroma.

2. Kikkoman Less Salt Soy Sauce (150ml / €2.95)

Our ratings: 9 and 9

This was the crowd favorite of the evening, garnering the highest scores across the panel. We had never considered using low-salt Kikkoman before. Why mess with a good thing? We were surprised how much we enjoyed this. It has a dark, reduced flavor. Slightly sweet, with a full-bodied consistency. It is pleasantly salty, but not overpowering.

3. Kikkoman Naturally Brewed Soy Sauce “Shoyu” (1L / €6.25)

Our ratings: 6 and 5

Next up is our standard kitchen soy sauce, which we buy in the bulk (1L) plastic bottles. If this wasn’t a blind test it might get a higher score, but in this context it’s pretty disappointing. This is the first full-salt version included in the tasting, and the difference is striking and a bit overpowering. It is thin and has a strong flavor, but lacks the caramel/brown overtones that can give soy sauce an extra dimension. It is better on fried tofu than on rice.

4. Kikkoman Naturally Brewed Soy Sauce “Shoyu” (150ml / €2.50)

Our ratings: 8 and 8

This is actually the same soy sauce as #3, but it’s packaged in a small, glass bottle. We are surprised by how much this changes the flavor and quality. The rest of the panel agreed, and it garnered the second-highest average score of the tasting. Keeping soy sauce in a larger container changes the way the soy sauce ages, just as flavors in wine change depending on whether it is kept in a bottle or a cask. The contrasts are very pronounced. The flavor in this soy sauce is stronger, with lightly sweet notes of sherry. The consistency is very thin and the sauce has a lighter color.

5. Pearl River Bridge Superior Light Soy Sauce (500ml / €1.29)

Our ratings: 3.5 and 6.5

Pearl River is a cheap Chinese brand of soy sauce that we use in our own kitchen for cooking, but never for dipping or seasoning. It’s truly an unimpressive soy sauce, but it works fine for adding some salt and color to soups and marinades. Our blind tasting is consistent with our earlier impressions. It is full-bodied and lightly acidic, but with unpleasant musty-cheesy-mushroomy side flavors. Dark and thin, medium saltiness. It highlights the fried flavor in the tofu, and not in a good way.

6. Healthy Boy Brand Thin Soy Sauce (300ml / €1.15)

Our ratings: 5 and 5.5

Extremely thin and light colored Thai soy sauce. Very salty and sweet. Not a favorite.

Readers should note that at this point we are feeling the effects from eating a lot of soy sauce. If you try this at home, remember to stay hydrated.

7. Mee Chun “Best” Soy Sauce (500ml / €1.75)

Our ratings: 7 and 7.5

Very dark and thick. Sweet without being sugary, has molasses overtones. Not especially salty.

8. Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce (740ml / €2.15)

Our ratings: 4 and 5

We guessed that this was likely Pearl River Bridge because it has many of the off flavors we associate with that brand. It is medium in color and thickness, and has a strong smell. The taste is powerful and very salty, with a tiny hint of vanilla.

9. Kikkoman Light Soy Sauce “Usukuchi Shoyu” (1L / €6.25)

Our ratings: 8 and 8

Kikkoman Light is clearer than the normal stuff, allowing ingredients to maintain their natural colors when cooked. Very salty, thin. Strong flavor with caramel overtones.

10. Takesan Kishibori Shoyu Koikuchi First Pressed Soy Sauce (1L / €16.00)

Our ratings: 5 and 7

Acidic tang, with very nice smell and flavor. Leaves a slight aftertaste. Extremely salty though, so salty that it loses points. This is the most expensive soy sauce in the bunch. We’re glad we didn’t fall in love and become soy snobs.

At this point we are really wearing down, and distinctions between each brand start to blur and fade. Take our notes with a grain of salt, or a drop of soy sauce.

11. Kikkoman Tamari Soy Sauce (Gluten Free) (250ml / €3.65)

Our ratings: 6 and 6

This gluten-free Kikkoman sauce isn’t a replacement for the original. Thin and salty, with a sour, sharp, almost citric flavor.

12. Yamasa Soy Sauce (150ml / €2.25)

Our ratings: 7 and 6

Full flavor, very salty. Strongly fermented and alkaline. Could be an adequate cooking soy, but we’d avoid it for dipping.

13. Healthy Boy Brand Soy Sauce with Mushroom (700ml / €2.40)

Our ratings: 6 and 6

Very sweet, the mushroom flavor comes through as a combination of fishy and fruity smells. Very light, very thin, low saltiness.

14. Mizkan Ajipon Ponzu (Soy Sauce with Yuzu) (355ml / €3.65)

Our ratings: 8 and 4

Specialty soy sauces are a matter of taste, and we were split on this one. It isn’t a soy in the traditional sense, it’s very light and very thin. Sweet, fruity, sherry flavors. Low saltiness. Recommended to us as an ingredient in salad dressing.

Fresh spices are important. I usually turn to places like Penzy’s and the Spice House for decent spices that haven’t been on the grocery store shelf for a year. The quality of products from these commercial vendors is reliable, and certainly acceptable for everyday use. If you’re looking for a special place with truly exceptional world-class spices, however, I recommend SA.VA. in Italy.

All of SA.VA.’s spices are flown to Italy from Madagascar. Most companies ship spices in (hot) boats. SA.VA. transports spices in climate controlled airplanes, so they are amazingly potent and fresh. It’s always a treat to sample some of SA.VA’s spices. Today I’ll look at six: pink peppercorns, coriander, dill, fenegreek, nutmeg, ground ginger, and voatsiperifery peppercorns. Here are my previous SA.VA. notes.

First up, these brilliantly colored pink peppercorns. Light and delicate kernels that have a crispy skin, not solid like black peppercorns.  Intensely sweet, with a bright citrus flavor.

This coriander has a distinct, lemony aroma. The flavor has citrus and cedar notes. Beautiful whole seeds.

Dill seeds are used in breads, for pickling, and as a salad dressing. There is a sharp dill aroma, and the flavor has notes of caraway. It delivers a slight menthol tingle.  The seeds a have a light, crispy texture.

Caramely, buttery aroma from this fenugreek really wallops you in the face. The deep golden seeds are slightly sweet, with butter and toffee flavors. It has been delicious in my curries and middle-eastern soups. Highly recommended.

This ginger has a delicate, sweet, and spicy aroma. It has a mild flavors, with an astringent note and very light heat. Great in pumpkin pies and seasoning for pork sausage.

Breakfast Sausage Seasoning (1.5 tablespoon per pound/500g): 1/4 tsp salt (add another ½ – 1 tsp to meat); ¼ T white pepper; ½ T sage; ½ t SA.VA. ginger; ¼ T SA.VA. nutmeg; ½ T thyme; ½ t marjoram, 5-10 small hot chilis (I used SA.VA.’s fantastic pili pili chiles).

Average sized nutmeg with a pungent aroma. Extremely oily inside, it forms a fine paste when grated. One seed yields around 1/3 – 1/2 tsp of grated nutmeg. I also used this in pumpkin pie and sausage seasoning (see recipee above). Highly recommended.

Voatsiperifery is a type of wild (not cultivated) peppercorn that grows exclusively in Madagascar. They only grow at the very top shoots of the pepper vines. The dried pepper retains its stem, which gives it a unique appearance. It tastes like black peppercorns. Low heat. Earthy, woody, slightly tangy.

All of these spices are available from SA.VA.’s online shop. I highly recommend the pili pili chiles and cumin, as well.

Brent at Beanilla sent these samples a really long time ago, but because these kinds of products don’t fit within my normal vanilla evaluation procedure I took some extra time to consider them.

Tahitian Vanilla Sugar ($7.99/6 oz)

This product uses tahitensis vanilla from Tahiti and Papua New Guinea. I usually make vanilla sugar by exposing sugar to fresh or post-extract beans, and then removing the pods before use. In contrast, this vanilla sugar appears to be made by adding ground pods to sugar. This gives the sugar a light and dry texture, whereas homemade vanilla sugar can be dense and sticky. It has a light, fruity Tahitian vanilla flavor that doesn’t overwhelm.

In my experience, vanilla pulver becomes spongy and noticeable in baked goods such as cake, and can actually throw off the texture a bit. If you need instant vanilla sugar this may be good for you, but I recommend buying some of Beanilla’s excellent Tahitian vanilla beans and making your own.

Tahitian Vanilla fleur de sel (sea salt) ($9.25/2 oz)

I really enjoy trying different salts. This is a French fleur de sel mixed with ground tahitensis vanilla from Tahiti and Papua New Guinea. The salt is very moist and has a gray-brown color. It smells strongly of vanilla and has a piquant, mineral quality. The taste of the salt itself is very clean and strong, without any lingering mineral flavor. The vanilla flavor is well-balanced and not overwhelming, but I find the fruitiness of Tahitian vanilla to be an odd pairing with such a strong salt.

This is an interesting product because might not be something easily done at home.  The delicate structure of sea salt might not hold up to the moisture and stickiness of post-extract beans. I’m not sure if you can simply extract the vanilla flavor into salt by leaving some beans in the bag, the way you can with sugar.

I had a hard time thinking of how to use this in the Vanilla Review test kitchen. I asked Brent at Beanilla for some advice, and he said:

The salt is used by professional chocolate makers and pastry chefs. Because both salt and vanilla beans are often used to bring out the flavor of savory dishes, our tahitian vanilla Fleur De Sel can be used in a large variety of dishes. I have also used the salt on meats like pork tenderloin.

The best use I’ve found so far is in Rosemary Sea Salt truffles. The vanilla melds nicely with the chocolate, and the salt brings out the savory flavor of the rosemary. Lining cocktail or margarita glasses also sounds like a good idea.

When a representative of Rodelle Vanilla contacted the site, I was excited about the opportunity to compare professionally-made extract to homemade. Rodelle sent an 8 oz bottle of their standard-quality pure vanilla extract (they also make a gourmet-quality).

The first thing that I looked for was the origin of the beans used, but this isn’t listed on the bottle. Rodelle’s website says that they use a custom blend of beans “from the top growing regions throughout the world”, but not a lot of additional detail is provided. The vanilla comes from several different growing regions, and might even be a mix of planifolia and tahetensis beans. Update: according to Rodelle’s comment below, this is 100% Madagascar grown vanilla (planifolia).

This is single-fold extract that, unlike homemade extract, provides standardized doses. Rodelle uses a heat percolation extraction method. There is an intense debate in the vanilla world over the use of heat. Opinions are split between those who say that higher temperatures bring out flavors that aren’t possible with cold extraction methods, and those who claim that heat destroys the more delicate flavors or brings out undesirable ones.

It was a surprise to see sugar listed on the ingredients in a upscale-marketed vanilla like Rodelle. Rodelle mentions the sugar several times on their site as an example of the organic ingredients used in the extract. Sugar reduces the alcohol nose, and is an FDA-permitted additive for vanilla extract, but many gourmet manufacturers now choose to leave it out.

The extract is reddish-brown in color and has a light viscosity. The aroma is dark and rich, and more like a whole vanilla bean than many commercial extracts. My best guess, based on the aroma, would be that this is a mixture of Madagascar- and PNG-sourced beans. The sugar indeed cuts the sharp alcohol smell, but there is still a sense of it in the mouth when exhaling after smelling the aroma.

Three different tests help get a sense of the different qualities of this vanilla extract. In a sugar icing test, it has good richness and depth, with strong tobacco overtones and the flavor of real beans. Mixing it into warmed milk brings out custard overtones, and also enhances the rich flavors of the milk. In a practical use scenario — the oatmeal cookie test — the vanilla extract comes across as very sweet, with a light flavor.  This is an extract that I would use for everyday cooking, but I prefer something a little more robust to for use as a feature flavor in something like ice cream or crème brûlée.

Beanilla’s excellent Madagascar, Tonga, Mexico, and Papua New Guinea vanilla beans are already featured on this site. Recently, they added India and Indonesia grown planifolia pods. Brent at Beanilla sent these vacuum-packed samples for review. Rarely do you find two beans with such different and distinct aromas, it’s an exciting and obvious contrast.

India planifolia (Grade A – $36.50 for 8 ounces, 1/2 pound)

More and more India vanilla is coming on the market. Two years ago it was difficult to track down, but in the past six months I’ve evaluated several samples.

Beanilla’s India vanilla beans are dark brown in color. The skins have a beautiful texture, the smoothness and sheen of the pods are evidence of expert curing. The pods are well-shaped and very flexible.  These vanilla beans are turgid with caviar.

Inside, the vanilla pods are oily and gooey. Sticky strings form as the bean is pulled apart. The aroma is dark and rich, with strong overtones of chocolate and prune. There’s a large yield of thick, moldable, and very oily caviar in each bean.

Indonesia planifolia (Grade A – $35.98 for 8 ounces, 1/2 pound)

Indonesia vanilla beans are often picked too early, and the curing process is typically hasty and unrefined. Gourmet Indonesia vanilla is rare; there’s only one other example on this site.

Beanilla’s Indonesia grown beans are black in color. The pods are flexible, but flat and not plump. The skins are moderately oily and only moderately supple, but these are still among the best cured Indonesia beans I’ve evaluated.

The caviar is pillowy and light. It has plenty of moisture, but isn’t especially sticky. Caviar yield is moderate. The beans have a spicy, cinnamon aroma that is a noticeable contrast to the India beans’ chocolate notes.

It’s always nice to see another vendor of India-sourced vanilla beans. India vanilla is not yet widely marketed, but the industry in south India continues to grow. This is a European vendor, selling vanilla beans from the United Kingdom.

VanillaMart’s vanilla beans are grown by a group of farmers’ co-operatives in South India (Malnad region of Karnataka). Pods are intercropped with coffee, cardamom, black pepper, and other spices. VanillaMart has been selling these vanilla beans in the UK for over a year, and has found wide acceptance of non-Madagascar vanilla.

The samples arrived loosely packed, instead of vacuum packed. The pod texture is supple and has a nice, matte sheen. Not overly-greasy, like some vacuum packed beans can be. All have a wonderful, spicy aroma.

12-15cm India planifolia (Regular – no longer sold)

Since I started the review, these vanilla beans are no longer for sale, but VanillaMart sent some as a comparison sample. The regular beans are not as moist as the two gourmet-length varieties, but they have plenty of flexibility. The skin is a bit dry, though, with some light brown streaks.  They have a good aroma and are moderately plump.

The last picture (below) shows the regular-length vanilla.

15-17cm India planifolia (Gourmet – £24.00 per 500 grams)

The gourmet-length variety is my favorite. The skin is supple and dark brown. The pods are flexible and oily. They have an average plumpness. The caviar is also quite oily, and there are some pools of oil left on the plate after cutting. There is an average yield of caviar. Its texture is very nice, quite moist and shapes well.

The first picture (below) shows the gourmet-length beans. The remainder of the photos show the premium gourmet beans because, apart from the length, they are comparable in quality.

18-21cm India planifolia (Premium Gourmet – £27.00 per 500 grams)

These vanilla pods have an average plumpness, a bit more than the Gourmet, but are also very wide. The skin is dark brown in color, flexible and oily. The caviar is slightly oily and has a beautiful texture. There is an above-average caviar yield, due to the size of these vanilla beans.

Mr. Daudi’s Tanzania Vanilla Planifolia
Mwanza, Tanzania

It’s very difficult to find single-source, farm-direct vanilla beans — that’s what makes these Tanzanian vanilla beans extra special. I first met Mr. Daudi (photo, left) through Kim, a U.S. Peace Corps worker in Tanzania. Mr. Daudi wants to produce Grade A vanilla and sell it directly to consumers, bypassing the local vanilla consolidation houses. To help him produce even better vanilla, I sent Mr. Daudi a vanilla growing handbook, which he compared to his methods. These are the first vanilla beans that he’s cured since reading the book.

The six beans range from plump to thin. They are brown in color, with lighter streaks. The skin is a bit leathery, but still flexible. The beans are flexible and don’t break when bent. They are a bit on the dry side, however, as evidenced by the vanillin crystals that have formed on the skin. The aroma is creamy, rich, and strong. There are pleasing overtones of raisin and pipe tobacco.

The beans are fairly woody and dry when cut open. They leave a bit of brown-yellow oil on my knife.

The caviar yield is excellent for only six beans. It has a fluffy, pillowy texture. The caviar isn’t especially moist or oily; you can form it with your fingers but it won’t stick together.

These vanilla beans are somewhere between Grade A and B quality. They aren’t as dry or as tough as B-grade beans would be, but they’re a bit too dry to be Grade-A gourmet quality. They are exceptional extract beans. Mr. Daudi is still working to perfect his curing methods, and I’ll keep you updated on his progress.

Right now, Mr Daudi is the world’s only source for farm-direct, Tanzanian vanilla. If you’d like to order Mr. Daudi’s vanilla beans, please contact me, or contact Mr. Daudi directly at the address below:

Henerico Daud Buberwa
c/o Meleki Emanuel Kaishozi
PO BOX 11849
Mwanza, Tanzania

It’s been a bit of a hunt to find vanilla grown in Fiji. Veronica Hazelman is the current Operations Manager of Spices of Fiji. According to an e-mail I received from Veronica:

Spices of Fiji still grows vanilla and also has a group of out-growers scattered throughout Fiji. We are currently selling vanilla AA Long Grade at FJ$120 per kilo. We do sell a package of 250g at FJ$50 and also glass tube pack with two vanilla beans. Shipping through DHL courier would probably be the best but expensive (FJ$100).
–Veronica Hazelman, April 1&16, 2008.

Veronica is available to accept orders by e-mail, but I considered it pretty impractical. Eventually, a kind reader visited Spices of Fiji and sent me some vanilla beans to photograph.

The vanilla beans are brown-to-black in color, with a slightly sticky skin. They have a sturdy build, and are fairly thin instead of plump.

The beans show good flexibility when bent, but have dry tips. They were mailed in plastic wrap, however, and they may have dried a bit in transit.

Although these vanilla beans aren’t the plumpest or prettiest, the aroma more than makes up for it. The main words that come to mind are creamy, sweet, rich, floral, and fruity. They are more floral and less dark than Madagascar-grown vanilla beans. The aroma of Fiji vanilla beans is one of my new favorites.

Cutting the beans left a small amount of dark, red-brown oil on the knife. The caviar is fairly dry, and comes out as strings, as shown in the pictures. There was a moderate caviar yield, but more than expected upon first glance.

I can’t wait to try the extract from these beans, the aroma was so fantastic! Currently, these vanilla beans are pretty much only available if you actually visit Fiji, but I hope they find wider distribution.

There is a for-sale ads on the internet through FTIB, but so far Dr Ronald Gatty has not found the right person with whom he would like to buy the farm. I have been with the farm since the year 2000.

Dr Ronald Gatty know as the Spice Man is the father Fiji’s Spice Industry. He is a Tasmanian, raised in Fiji. He is a son of the Famous flyer Mr Harold Gatty, first man to fly an aeroplane around The world in 1931, with Wiley Pos, a a Lockheed Vega. It was Ron’s Father who founded what became Air Pacific.

But Dr Gatty struck out on his own. Dr Gatty studied botany at Cornell University and served as a professor over a couple of decades at City University of New York. He became for a time Plant Explorer for medicinal plants in the South Seas for a subsidiary for Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical company. And he returned frequently to Fiji. Some twenty Year ago, he settled to pioneer the land at Wainadoi. This was the origin Of Wainadoi Spice Gardens, born of the jungle and bushland of costal Namosi Rainforest. Now he carries on as a volunteer consultant in the Gardens, Still helping to take care of the plants.

SPICES OF FIJI VANILLA
Spices of Fiji is just west of Suva, a twenty minute drive from the capital city, is a 90 hectore paradice of jungle, waterfalls, streams and rivers and The unique Organic Spice gardens of Fiji. With a network of village outgrowers, this plantation has made Fiji known as the Spice Islands of the South Seas. The spice gardens and vanilla outgrowers are certified under Eco-cert, (Spice organic identification no. – SA, F-32600)

Tourist come from afar to visit and see how some of the best organic vanilla in the world are planted, cultivated and cured to make gourmet flavourings appreciated by connoisseurs.

Most visitors have never seen a vanilla orchid, and some of them ask for advise on how vanilla can be used in cooking. Vanilla is sold to the Individual local visitors or tourist that visit the Spice Gardens.

EXPORTS & LOCAL MARKETS:
The overseas health-food market appreciates the organic certification and the Fiji Fresh feature, with shipment direct from the Spice gardens Plantation. Vanilla is exported to New Zealand, Australia and Germany. Vanilla is also sold right here in Fiji in all major supermarkets, and in All major gift shops, in special gift packaging. Food Service for Restaurants, hotels and five star resorts.
–email, April 10, 2008.

Madagascar cumin, SA.VA. Import – Export, 5€ for 30grams.

Cumin is a favorite ingredient in my kitchen, and a key spice in Mexico, India, and many other food cultures. To satisfy my need for bulk cumin, I usually buy a 1kg (2.2lbs) bag that lasts about a year. I compared SA.VA.’s cumin to my usual stuff, and found a huge difference in quality. SA.VA.’s spices are transported by plane, rather than hot containers on a ship, to ensure maximum taste and freshness.

SA.VA.’s Madagascar cumin is an earthy tan color, and has a rich, even floral, cumin aroma.  I ate a bit of SA.VA.’s Madagascar cumin and compared it to my bulk cumin. Raw, SA.VA’s cumin has a pleasant taste. In comparison, the bulk cumin is dry, bitter, and has a carroty vegital flavor.

I evaluated it further in chili powder, some Mexican dishes, and chicken Andoulle sausage. All had a nice flavor, though it really shines where cumin is a feature flavor. SA.VA.’s cumin is by far the best I’ve ever sampled.  In a side-by-side comparison, the sharp contrast with my usual cumin really surprised me. Try the comparison for yourself.

Madagascar cinnamon sticks, SA.VA. Import – Export, 3€ per 3 sticks.

Cinnamon is a favorite holiday spice, perfect for Santa’s cookies and Christmas morning sticky rolls. SA.VA.’s Madagascar cinnamon is different from the bland, ground powder at the local market. The ground sticks have a bright, hot, citrus aroma. It makes me think of cinnamon bears or red hots. The sticks are made of thin layers, and I can crush them with my fingers and grind them in a coffee grinder — something I can’t normally do with cassia cinnamon sticks.

This cinnamon has a yellow-tan color that is lighter than the usual, rusty-red hues of traditional cassia. Its bright aroma also  stands in contrast to the typically warmer, darker smell of cassia. Because of these qualities, I initially thought this was ceylon (true) cinnamon, and not the cassia cinnamon I’m used to buying in European and American supermarkets. Ceylon cinnamon is the cinnamon of choice in Mexico, and perhaps the UK.  I wrote to Edith at SA.VA. to ask if this was ceylon cinnamon. According to Edith, I’m completely wrong:

All the cinnamon from Madagascar is regarded as cassia, although very different from the cassia usually sold in the European supermarket. So this cassia classification does not make happy the Madagascar cinnamon producers,  that would prefer another denomination, as for instance the “Madagascar cinnamon” that we’re using in our technical schedule.

Our cinnamon comes from a family farm production in the region of Tamatave (east coast of Madagascar), as I know this family very well for a long time I’ve started to cooperate with them here in Europe.

With a citrus aroma and delicate layers, this Madagascar strain is a cassia that shares many characteristics with ceylon cinnamon. It is unique in the world, and will surely add a personal signature to your baked goods.

“Broken Nose Vanilla – a real mean bean!”, how cool is that? This vanilla is grown and then cured on the same farm — a real rarity in the modern vanilla trade that usually uses centralized curing facilities. Fiona first told us about her vanilla plantation about a year ago. At the time they were still anticipating the first beans. As promised, Fiona sent along several vanilla beans from the first harvest.

Australia Planifolia, Grade “A”

Broken Nose Vanilla sent two Grade “A” vanilla beans from their first harvest. The vanilla is flexible and long. The skin is supple and black. One bean is round and packed firm with caviar, the other wide and flatter in shape.

The aroma is sweet and unctuous. Overall, it’s brighter and fruitier than traditional Madagascar-grown planifolia. They smell really fantastic.

Inside, the beans are surprisingly wet with a rich red/brown oil. The caviar is extremely oily, yield is slightly above average for two vanilla beans.

Australia Planifolia, Grade “B”

Broken Nose Vanilla grades beans by length, grade “B” are shorter gourmet vanilla beans, and not extract grade as the name suggests.

Compared to the grade “A” vanilla, these beans are lighter in color and a bit dryer.  They are supple, soft, and flexible.  All the beans are round and plump.

These shorter beans have a beautifully moist and oily interior. Note the beautiful pools of goop and moisture in the bisection images (click any picture to enlarge). Nice yield of caviar for beans this size. The caviar is firm and moldable.

Vanilla is making inroads in Australia, and farm-grown and cured vanilla is still a real rarity anywhere in the world. Congratulations to Broken Nose Vanilla on a fantastic first harvest and cure. I wish them the best of luck for their second and future harvests.

If you have any questions about Australian vanilla, or growing vanilla in Australia, Fiona is generally available to answer questions via e-mail or the comments below.

Here’s some info from Fiona about the plantation:

The property is around 12 acres, mostly hilly, that borders the Russell River and overlooks the Russell River valley towards the mountains. Although only slightly elevated, it is a bit cooler than the rest of the coastal plain – breezes funnel through the valley and the cool air falls off the mountain at night, taking the edge of the tropical summer heat.

The surrounding country grows mostly rainforest, sugar cane and bananas – a palette of greens. We enjoy the ‘dragon breath’ mists that rise from the valley and the mountain rifts in wisps and drifts, and we have wonderful sunsets.

One of the mountain peaks is called Broken Nose – hence our name: Broken Nose Vanilla.

The vanilla (V. planifolia) grows under 50% shade amongst patches of revegetating rainforest (it used to be sugar cane). It grows in pure mulch, supplied from mulching fallen rainforest timber from the recent cyclone (March 2006), and from local council prunings and roadside maintenance etc. The cyclone provided the area with about 10 years worth of mulch!

We can get up to 6metres (=240inches!) of rain a year, so being on hills has its pros and cons – good drainage but we need to be careful of erosion in disturbed areas. We seldom have to irrigate. Temperatures range from around 12degrees C minimum (54deg F) in the dry season (June-October) to 35degrees C (95deg F) in the wet season. Humidity seldom drops below 70% even in the Dry. Summer is usually 90% plus.

We use NO chemicals or fertilisers except the occasional fish emulsion foliar spray once or twice a year to guard against winter fungi on the leaves. We are in the process of organic certification through Biological Farmers Australia.

The first useable crop will be picked in July-Sept 2008, with products available by Christmas.

Check out the full Broken Nose Vanilla plantation gallery. Fiona provided some of the most dramatic and professional vanilla plantation shots I’ve ever seen — beautiful and amazing, check it out!

Red chilis, SA.VA. Import – Export, 5€ per 18grams.

These beautiful, bright red peppers are a type of Thai Chili grown in Madagascar. I use a lot of dried chili peppers, usually from Indonesia, Thailand, and Mexico. SA.VA. Import – Export’s Pili Pili peppers are the freshest I’ve ever worked with. Most dried chilis have a typical dusty, dry pepper aroma. These peppers smell spicy and hot, and have the fresh aroma of sun dried tomatoes! This is a different class of chili than I usually work with; fresh, rich, and surprising.

I sampled these chilis raw, and in several spicy dishes. They impart a fresh tomato richness I’ve never tasted from a chili before. Don’t be fooled by their size and tomato aromas, these little chilis are are fiery hot. Four chilis made a pound of very spicy Andouille sausage. If you’re a chili lover, like me, you’ve got try these amazing chilis.

Vanilla is grown commercially in very small quantities on the Big Island of Hawaii. You can buy expensive bottles containing one ($10) or three ($25) vanilla beans from the Hawaiian Vanilla Company.

A reader took a tour of the Hawaiian Vanilla Company, and was kind enough to send a range of vanilla and macadamia nut products.

The vanilla is somewhat-to-very plump, with dark, matte skins. The pods are flexible with a beautiful, sweet aroma. The aroma is rich, and sweeter than traditional Madagascar grown vanilla.

Yield of caviar is average for vanilla this size. The caviar is brown, thick, and formable, but not especially oily. These beans come from old stock, prior to a viral outbreak of the vanilla vines at the Hawaiian Vanilla Company. A reader reports that their new vines are doing well.

Three vanilla beans were packaged in a very heavy glass bottle. One bean was too long to fit in the bottle and was damaged by being bent. Instructions on the bottle recommend slicing one bean and filling the bottle with alcohol, but at ~1cup, this extract would be eight times weaker than normal. The vanilla beans are wonderful, but the bottle is  expensive, fragile, and heavy to ship; I hope they consider an alternate package when the new crop is finished curing.

Be sure to visit the Hawaiian Vanilla Company the next time you’re on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Jim Reddekopp at the Hawaiian Vanilla Company says that their vanilla sells to local restaurants and hotels so fast that there’s no bulk beans left for me (or you!). I recommend that you contact Clare at Huahua Farm, also on the Big Island. If the timing is right, you might be able to buy some vanilla beans from her.

Thanks to Hawaiian Vanilla Company for providing some photos of their vanilla plantation.

A bit of information from the Hawaiian Vanilla Company website:

[Our] vanilla beans are graded by their length. Our beans come in two grades: Grade A, which is more than 6” long and costs $190/pound; and Grade B, which is less than 6” long and costs $175/pound. We also sell individual beans for $10, and a pack of 3 beans for $25.

Tracy and I both pollinate the orchids, along with our three oldest children – Ian (11), Emma (10) and Isaac (8). Additionally, we bring in 4-6 other pollinators during this busy period.

Gale writes:

I was recently in Hawaii and bought a 3-bean bottle from Hawaiian Vanilla Company for $25 and added Absolut vodka to the bottle. I have to tell you that the Hawaiian Vanilla Company beans were absolutely luscious — long (about 8″ long), extremely plump and with a great smell.

Black peppercorns, SA.VA. Import – Export, 5€ per 30grams.

Black peppercorns are one of my favorite spices. When Edith at SA.VA. Import – Export asked if I would evaluate some fresh spices flown in from Madagascar, I jumped at the chance. SA.VA.’s spices are transported by plane, rather than shipping container. Most spices lose flavor during transit through tropical areas in metal shipping containers.  SA.VA.’s spices are flow in to preserve the intense flavors and freshness.

SA.VA.’s peppercorns are the most aromatic and fruity I’ve ever tried. It’s not as hot or ‘spicy’ as an Indian ‘extra bold’, but it’s significantly more pungent and flavorful. Fresh ground, they have the strong pungent aroma of sassafras oil, probably from a high concentration of  the chemical that makes black pepper tasty, piperonal. Really incredible peppercorns, I can tell the difference that air transport makes. If you like black pepper, SA.VA’s fresh peppercorns are a surprising and unique treat. Highly recommended to any gourmands and foodies out there, this is a peppercorn you won’t soon forget.

Daintree Vanilla and Spice is the first commercial seller of single source, Australian grown vanilla beans. This organic plantation grows and cures vanilla planifolia beans in Australia’s Daintree rainforest. George Gonthier, general manager of Daintree Vanilla & Spice, is an Australian vanilla pioneer.

According to George:

We have been growing vanilla in North Queensland, Australia for 10 years on a large scale in the Daintree rainforest and have been producing beans for about 5 years. We are also working in collaboration with Australian Vanilla Plantation … and building a greenhouse for the University of Western Sydney to do research.

Pollination has just started again, we start off say 1 thousand flowers. That will increase to about 6-8 thousand per day at full swing until end of November.

The pods samples are pure vanilla, no coconut oil or other oil additive. I also process the pods on the property. We pride ourselves as pure and proud to be Australian owned and grown.

If you’re thinking about growing vanilla in Australia, George can supply vanilla vines and advise:

We are not the only growers here in the far north, I know all of them as I sold them the plants. [Don't take] advice from Mexican growers, whose environments are totally different than ours. My family will guide local farmers to be successful, and we have the University of Western Sydney as support…

The beautiful Daintree website includes history of the vanilla plantation, and the family who operates it. Cameron at Daintree sent these pictures of the plantation.

Daintree Vanilla & Spice Australia Vanilla Planifolia — 6-7″/16-17cm ($100 AUD per 250 grams)
A single, beautiful Australian vanilla bean arrived packaged in a plastic tube. Daintree calls this “A Grade”, which I would call Grade A 16-17 cm. This is a gorgeous, single source vanilla bean, grown and cured in the Daintree rainforest in northern Australia.

The vanilla bean is super flexible. It is dark brown to black in color, and is waxy and pliable. The aroma is overwhelmingly creamy and soft.

The caviar is wet and oily, with a few very goopy, sticky areas. Quite heavy and thick caviar, with a beautiful oily shine. Caviar yield is average for a vanilla bean of this size.

Daintree Vanilla & Spice Australia Vanilla Planifolia — under 6″/15cm ($60 AUD per 250 grams)
Twenty-eight brown “B Grade” vanilla beans arrived packed in wax paper and foil. Daintree calls these “B Grade”, but I would call them Grade A 16- cm, because they’re too nice to deem Extract Grade as the name implies. They are round, plump, straight and short. The skin is drier-looking than the A Grade, with a nice waxy finish. Like the longer beans, these weren’t vacuum packed, thus the skin remains waxy, rather than greasy. The vanilla beans are flexible enough to tie in a knot. Their reasonable size and elegant shape make them a beautiful garnish for high-end dishes.

Inside, the vanilla has a creamy aroma that is very nice. Even though the outside appears dry, the caviar is heavy and oily. The beans are surprisingly easy to bisect. They appear hard to cut, but only require one swipe with the knife because they are so moist inside. The caviar texture is luxurious, soft and velvety to the touch. The caviar yield is above-average for such small beans.

Daintree vanilla beans are single source, grown and cured in Australia’s Daintree rainforest. Single source vanilla is a real rarity in the modern vanilla trade that is dominated by central curing houses. If you’re looking for unique, high quality, real Australia grown vanilla, then check out Daintree Vanilla & Spice.

Tahiti Vanille sells single source tahitensis beans grown and cured at three different plantations in Tahiti. One of these locations is Raiatea (formerly plantation La Vanillere), the same beans sold by vanillafromtahiti.com. The others are Tahaa and Bora-Bora.

While most Tahiti grown vanilla goes through a central curer like Jean Chan, these guys do it a bit different and are winning big awards.

Alain ABEL sent pictures of the plantation, and this information:

Why Is Terroir Important?
For nearly ten years now, the Tahiti Vanille team has been helping to promote this rare flavouring for discerning consumers, not just by cultivating it, but also by preparing it and exporting it to the four corners of the earth, with love, pride and passion.

The team is made up of four young Polynesians.

The idea came out of a very simple observation: for the past hundred years, almost all of the thousand Polynesian Vanilla growers have no longer prepared their own vanillas (drying); they pick them and sell them to the few preparers active in the territory. The result is that each preparer obtains vanilla from at least one hundred planters spread out over the entire archipelago. All of the vanilla from the various plantations and islands is thus mixed together and prepared at the same time.

Once the notion of terroir was abandoned, the vanillas were no longer distinguishable. “There was a need to recapture the nourishing terroirs of our precious Tahitian Vanilla, differentiate them, identify them, make them known.”

With a constant concern for unparalleled quality, Alain Abel rediscovered these Polynesian terroirs and distinguished them into three Premier Plantation Regions, in order to develop vanillas rich in history, to be sampled and savoured like fine wines.

Premier Plantation Region Raiatea (Cru Raiatea) Please note that “Cru la Vanillère” is now “Cru Raiatea”. [ed: These are the same vanilla beans sold by vanillafromtahiti.com and reviewed here.]
In the deep and fertile valley of Hotopuu, not far from the famous marae of Taputapuatea, the historical cradle of Maohi culture, valued for its location and its exceptional sunlight, the Premier Plantation Region Raiatea came into being.

The product of wild vines gathered in the forest, propagated by cuttings in terraces under shading nets, in a plant compost coming exclusively from coconut palms (trunks, down, palms), the Premier Plantation Region Raiatea offers long and fleshy vanilla beans and develops their delicious caramel and anise flavours in a remarkable, unctuous, sweet-smelling mixture.

Premier Plantation Region Tahaa (Cru Tahaa)
We selected this plantation, located in the superb and untamed island of Tahaa, the sister of Raiatea, for the quality of its mature beans. The plantation is of the traditional type. The vines are planted on hillsides, on shrubs serving as stakes.

The soil is naturally enriched with the leaves of a deciduous tree: the Bourrao.

The beans of Premier Plantation Region Tahaa are fleshy and shorter, and gradually release a rich, fruity, smooth aromatic bouquet, featuring sublime floral notes.

Premier Plantation Region Bora-Bora (Cru Bora-Bora)
It is on the west cost of the island of Tahaa, just opposite the delightfully enchanting Bora-Bora, far removed from human habitation, that we selected this plantation, admired for the quality of its natural humus and its red earth, constantly enriched by the leaves of a tree called Falcata.

The vanilla plants are arranged on hillsides, and sunlight is controlled by pruning the branches of the shrubs by hand. The beans are oily and fleshy. This Premier Plantation Region releases the accents of a rich, tropical volcanic earth, in a constant mixture of the pleasant and gentle scents of prunes, vanilla, liquorice and chocolate.

Awards
March 2008: Vanilla curor Alain ABEL wins the GOLD Medal 2008 at the Concours Général Agricole de Paris, Category: Vanilla Tahitensis.
February 2007: Alain ABEL wins the GOLD Medal at the Concours Général Agricole de Paris, Category: Vanilla Tahitensis.

Note also that we supply some the most famous chefs around the world: Joel Robuchon, Alain Ducasse, Guy Savoy, Alain Senderens, etc..

Tahiti Vanille Raiatea, Tahiti Vanilla tahitensis.
Tahiti Vanilla’s primary plantation, Raiatea, grows award winning Tahitian tahitensis vanilla beans that are used by top chefs the world over. Note: “La Vanillère” is now know as “Cru Raiatea” — these are the same vanilla beans sold by vanillafromtahiti.com and reviewed here.

Tahiti Vanille Tahaa, Tahiti Vanilla tahitensis.
This is the shortest of Tahiti Vanille’s three vanilla origins. They are extremely moist both inside and out — a floppy, soft, and very supple vanilla bean. The skins are brown in color, and are not overly greasy/shiny because they were not vacuum packed. The beans are very plump, but not as full as Tahiti Vanille’s Raiatea grown vanilla beans.

Inside, the vanilla beans contain a plentiful amount of caviar for their size. The texture of the caviar is very interesting; it is extremely gooey, stringy and moist but at the same time does not stick well to other clumps of caviar. The aroma is strong and sweet, with a spicy undertone.

These are beautiful, single-source Tahitian vanilla beans. While these beans are not quite nice as those from Tahiti Vanille’s primary plantation, Raiatea, they are still top-quality and are good examples of a distinctive, single-source vanilla bean.

Tahiti Vanille Bora Bora, Tahiti Vanilla tahitensis.
This is the longest of the three Tahiti Vanille varieties. The vanilla pod is supple, black in color, and moderately plump. The vanilla beans are pliable and flexible, but not floppy.

While the aroma of the Tahaa variety had a sharper, slightly more acidic aroma, the Bora Bora beans have a soft and buttery scent. The caviar is super goopy, but less wet than the Tahaa vanilla beans. Gooey strings run through the caviar, leaving sticky fingers after handling. The beans yield an average amount of caviar for their size.

These are beautiful, single-source Tahitian vanilla beans. While they are not quite nice as those from Tahiti Vanille’s primary plantation, Raiatea, they are top-quality examples of a distinctive, single-source vanilla bean.

Villa Vanilla is a biodynamic farm and tourist destination in Costa Rica. Their single-source, organic vanilla beans are sold farm-direct from the Rainforestspices.com website. Several farm-direct spices are available, including vanilla beans, vanilla extract, and cinnamon.

The vanilla beans are grown biodynamically, going way beyond traditional organic farming. The vanilla plantation is conceived as sustainable a system of different plants and animals. The diversity of this system prevents diseases and land use problems associated with single-crop agriculture. According to my research, Villa Vanilla is the only Demeter certified biodynamic vanilla farm in the world.

Henry at Villa Vanilla/Rainforestspices.com sent this great description of the vanilla operation:

I have been in vanilla production for 21 years and I was Frontier’s Natural Products organic supplier in the 90′s. A blight affected the vanilla production in mid-late 90′s and I discovered biodynamic cultural practices as a remedy to continue growing vanilla. My farm is the first Demeter certified biodynamic farm in Central America and I have since worked in vanilla in Mexico, El Salvador, Hawaii, Madagascar and Costa Rica.

The farm is located close to Manuel Antonio National Park, a major tourist destination. I host students and tourists for our educational tour “Spices, Gardens & more…” and successfully sell our spices at retail prices at our well known “Spice Shoppe”.

You can visit Villa Vanilla in Costa Rica for a farm tour, or stay in one of two cabins. Adventurous student eco-tourists can work on the vanilla farm for a week, and learn about sustainable agriculture. Accommodation, tour, and shop information are available on the website.

Villa Vanilla sent three samples of biodynamic vanilla beans. The beans arrived quickly from Costa Rica, wrapped in wax paper and plastic. Shipping is very reasonable at $7 per pound.

Villa Vanilla / Rainforestspices.com Costa Rica Planifolia Gourmet #1: 8 1/2 to 10 inches ($92 per pound)
These are giant vanilla beans, the biggest on the site (as of August 2008). It’s even more amazing that this is a common size from the plantation, not just a sample of exceptionally large vanilla beans. The growing conditions at Villa Vanilla must be exceptional to grow vanilla like this. Not only are the pods long, they are very wide and quite plump. Rainforestspices.com calls these “Gourmet #1″, which I would translate to “Grade A, long”.

The pod is soft, supple, and black to very dark brown in color. The skin is mildly shiny and waxy, but not greasy — this vanilla has not been vacuum packaged. The beans are flexible and beautiful.

Several beans have visible oil in the caviar when cut open, the aroma is pleasant. The volume of crumbly caviar is easily equivalent to the amount in 4 or more average size vanilla beans.

Villa Vanilla / Rainforestspices.com Costa Rica Planifolia Gourmet #2: 6 1/2 to 8 inches ($82 per 16 oz)
Rainforestspices.com calls these “Gourmet #2″, which I would translate to “Grade A, mixed/medium lengths”. The size varies a bit — I tried to show the range of sizes in the picture.

These are very similar to the longer Gourmet #1 vanilla, but shorter and thinner. The skin is soft and supple. The color is black to very dark brown.

Several beans have split ends. Split ends are not necessarily bad — this is notable because none of the Gourmet #1 or Grade #3 beans have split ends.

The aroma is similar to the longer variety. The caviar is airy and light, with a moderate yield.

Villa Vanilla / Rainforestspices.com Costa Rica Planifolia Grade #3: 5-6 inches, splits, curls ($70 per 16 oz)
These are shorter, dryer vanilla beans. They are listed as “splits and cuts”, though none of the sample beans were broken or otherwise damaged — just dryer. I believe they are the equivalent of “grade B” (extract) beans, but they are surprisingly easy to cut — easier than most extract beans. According to Henry, these have 20-25% moisture to ensure against mold. I would definitely not call them grade C or D (splits and cuts), as the name suggests.

The grade #3 vanilla beans are somewhat flexible, and brown to brown-red in color.

Despite being dry outside, the pods are bursting with an above-average yield of caviar for their size. Many have gooey, oily caviar. Overall, the caviar was moist and crumbly like wet sand. The aroma compares to the other grades.

This is very exciting, unique vanilla — I’m really glad to add it to the website. If you would like to visit a biodynanic, sustainable vanilla plantation and farm, then check out the agro/eco tours and programs offered at Villa Vanilla in Costa Rica. If you are looking for the ultimate in organic vanilla — biodynamic — look no further. I recommend this vanilla to anyone looking for the ultimate organic vanilla products.

It’s often said that Europe buys the best of Madagascar’s vanilla crop. Perhaps this is because so many Malagasy immigrate to Europe and import their family’s vanilla beans. SA.VA. Import-Export is another Europe based vanilla vendor selling fantastic vanilla beans from a family plantation in Madagascar. When there aren’t enough vanilla beans on the family farm, they also buy vanilla from the neighbors. Edith Jaomazava at SA.VA. Import-Export also sent a few pictures of the vanilla plantation in Madagascar.

According to Edith:

My family in Madagascar cultivates fields with vanilla beans for many years.  I’m involved in vanilla and other Madagascar spices here in Italy, where we opened a commercial house. We deal with cinnamon (powder and sticks) and black pepper from Madagascar too.

Now our main business is the wholesale market, but it’s our aim to sell small quantities in the future with an e-market ….. I’ll let you know.

“First Quality” (NFN 16-18 cm) Madagascar planifolia ( 8oz/250 grams for 30 Euros)
SA.VA. Import-Export’s Madagascar vanilla planifolia is very well cured, and among the moistest Madagascar vanilla beans I’ve ever seen.

Overall, the vanilla beans are plump, round, and firm with caviar. Every bean is plump, none are thin or flat. The skin is very moist, supple, and oily. The length is typical for Madagascar grown vanilla.

The color, dark brown to brown, is a bit lighter than many Madagascar vanilla beans. This is because of the exceptional moisture content. The caviar is super moist and oily. It has a fantastic, rich, traditional Madagascar vanilla aroma. Caviar yield is average.

The sample I evaluated arrived in a glass vial, and the vanilla was vacuum packed prior to that. In the picture you see one bean with a broken top, probably because of the vial.

SA.VA. Import-Export’s Madagascar vanilla beans are very high quality. Edith is a pleasure to work with, and I can recommend this close-to-farm-direct vanilla source without reservation.

Website: http://www.vanigliabourbon.net/
Bacche di vaniglia esaminate: 8 bacche “prima qualità” della specie planifolia del Madagascar
Costi: SA.VA. Import – Export ha provveduto ad inviare il campione in esame

E’ opinione comune che in Europa arrivi la parte migliore della produzione di vaniglia in Madagascar. Magari legato al fatto che molti Malgasci sono emigrati in Europa ed adesso importano le bacche di vaniglia prodotte dalle loro famiglie in Madagascar. SA.VA. Import-Export è una azienda sita in Europa che si occupa della vendita di fantastiche bacche di vaniglia prodotte dalle coltivazioni di famiglia in Madagascar. Quando la produzione famigliare non è sufficiente, acquistano le bacche di vaniglia direttamente dai coltivatori nelle vicinanze. Edith Jaomazava di SA.VA. Import-Export ha spedito anche alcune foto della piantagione di vaniglia in Madagascar.

Riportando le parole di Edith:

” La mia famiglia in Madagascar è dedita alla coltivazione delle bacche di vaniglia da molti anni. Io mi occupo della vaniglia e di altre spezie del Madagascar qua in Italia, dove abbiamo aperto un’azienda di import-export. Trattiamo anche la cannellla (polvere e corteccia) ed il pepe nero del Madagascar.

“Prima qualità” (NFN 16-18 cm) Madagascar planifolia ( 250 grammi per 30 Euro)
Le bacche di vaniglia del Madagascar di SA.VA. Import-Export sono molto curate, e tra le più umide che io abbia mai visto di provenienza Madagascar.

Nell’ insieme, le bacche di vaniglia sono sode, molto consistenti e piene di semini neri all’interno. Ciascuna bacca è consistente, nessuna sottile o secca. La superficie è molto umida, flessibile ed oleosa. La lunghezza è quella tipica delle bacche di vaniglia provenienti dal Madagascar.

Il colore, dal marrone scuro al marrone, è leggermente più chiaro di quello di molte altre bacche del Madagascar. Questo è legato all’ eccezionale tenore di umidità. I semini neri all’interno della bacca sono superbamente umidi ed oleosi. Questi presentano un aroma fantastico, pieno e davvero rappresentativo della vaniglia del Madagascar. Il tenore di semini neri è nella media.

Il campione da me valutato è pervenuto in un flacone di vetro, e la vaniglia era in confezione sottovuoto in precedenza. Nella foto potete vedere che una bacca ha un’estremità rotta, probabilmente in seguito all’inserimento nel flacone.

SA.VA. Import-Export  presenta delle bacche di vaniglia di qualità molto alta. Peraltro è un piacere lavorare con Edith, ed io raccomando questo fornitore diretto di vaniglia senza alcuna riserva.

These Tanzanian vanilla beans were listed on eBay by Kim. Kim met the vanilla growers while working as a teacher with the Peace Corps. The money raised from these beans went to Tanzania to cover the cost of school and school supplies. Read the previous stories.

The beans are flexible and brown-red in color, but are not very oily, supple, or moist. They have a nice coating of frost. Vanilla frost, while not a strict indicator of quality, shows that the beans contain vanillin and were properly cured. It’s also pretty rare, as most beans are sold vacuum packed, which prevents the frost from forming.

A majority of the beans have small to large splits in the end, indicating that they were harvested when ripe (and not too early). The number of split ends reminds me of these beans from Vanuatu. As Piero explained, to ensure maximum flavor, the growers are taught to wait until the end just splits before harvesting a bean. Premature harvest is a huge source of low quality beans, and frustration for new growers.

These beans seem to have a very high concentration of vanillin, like the Ugandan vanilla I reviewed. They do lack the sophisticated curing that comes from a vanilla region like Madagascar with a specialized curing industry. However, these beans are the embodiment of terroir. They are farm-cured, and come direct from the grower. Cool! I can’t wait to sample the extract.

If you would like to buy Tanzania grown vanilla and support small farmers, Kim says that there are plenty of growers eager to sell their vanilla. Let me know through the contact form, and I’ll put you in touch with Kim.

I tracked down Mike and Luluk Rich, formerly of Maui Island Vanilla, to find out if anyone was still running the vanilla plantation.

According to Mike, the vanilla business ended in 2002. Land and labor costs in Hawaii made it unfeasible.

Mike suggested Hawaiian Vanilla Company as a source, but they only sell single beans to individuals. I recommend you contact Clare at Huahua Farm on the Big Island — if the timing is right, you might be able to buy some vanilla beans from her.

Luluk and Mike Rich, formerly Maui Island Vanilla:
Used without permission: source, original.

Part 1

Part 2

Premium Grade A Gourmet Vanilla Planifolia (Bourbon-Style) Beans from Uganda

Located in the interior of the African continent, Uganda started producing some truly fine vanilla beans several years ago…

This auction is for 1/4 lb of organically grown Bourbon style vanilla planifolia beans from Uganda. They are plum, pliable, and, most importantly, succulent and flavorful. These beans are approximately 7″ – 8″ in length, with 30% moisture content.

update some more info on these beans. According to Rebekah, “these beans were purchased from a wholesaler in France.” If you are interested in some cheap Uganda beans for extract, contact Rebekah — fragasso80(at)msn.com. Replace (at) with @.

These black/brown beans are flexible but not particularly oily. The skin is pliable but not supple or oily, as evidenced by the lack of shine in the photos. I doubt they have 30% moisture as advertised, perhaps closer to 25%. The bundle seems to have a mix of qualities, from two (5%) super nice, giant beans (pictured below), to woody dry beans that barely meet my expectations of grade A vanilla. Overall, pretty disappointing for gourmet beans, but perfect for homemade extract.

The beans have a pleasant but mild raisin aroma, inside and out. The skins are noticeably woody and dry when cut. The caviar is also dry, airy, and light — like good potting soil.

These vanilla beans were advertised as 7″ to 8″ in length. As seen in the photograph below, most of the beans are just barely 7″ (17.78cm).

Rentak Timur has a nice website, but it seems they have stopped all operations. They do not respond to email, and their telephone has been disconnected. I moved them to a special “defunct” category on the vendor list page.

I’ve had no contact from Rentak Timur for months — if you have any luck, please let me know.

RTSB (Rentak Timur Sdn Bhd) is a vanilla outfit in Malaysia. Bobby at Rentak Timur was going to send a bean sample to photograph, but then I never heard from him again. If you have any contact with Rentak Timur, please post a comment below, or use the contact form.

Rentak Timur lists a variety of products here. Supposedly, you can contact Bobby to place an order, but I’ve never heard back from him:

bobby@vanilla.com.my

RENTAK TIMUR (MALAYSIA) SDN BHD
2-1 Jalan Jelatek 1,
Jelatek Business Centre,
54200 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.

tel : +603.4252 6588
fax: +603.4252 9588

Watch out when ordering from Vanilla Products USA — the eBay listings can be confusing. Be sure you choose their Madagascar Planifolia beans if thats what you want. They also sell Planifolia grown in PNG (costs half as much as Madagascar). They have good prices on grade ‘B’ extract beans, but again, they come from PNG. Extract grade Tahitensis Vanilla (grown in PNG) is available in one pound bundles (~$12).

Madagascar Planifolia (Grade A – $12.45 per 1/4 pound)
These were very nice beans of 7″ or so. These beans were flexible, moist, and oily. They have the very typical Madagascar vanilla aroma, and produce a bunch of nice caviar. The house smelled great after rendering a 1/4 pound of these.

PNG Tahitensis (Grade A – $5.99 per 1/4 pound)
Recall that Tahitensis (“Tahitian”) vanilla is a mutated variety. These Tahitensis were grown in PNG. These beans smelled like fruity raisins and pipe tobacco. Nice moist beans, slightly smaller than the Madagascar.

According to Pete at Vanilla Gold:

I operate on a very specialized level, with only Madagascar beans from th eSAVA region. My partner is from Britain and has lived in Madagascar for 35 years. He and I met through the stone business and for years he brought me fresh vanilla when we met to do business. We decided to only start a business if we could offer consumers the best quality Madagascar has to offer, and in turn be able to undercut everyone else’s prices.

He uses 2 master graders, who have been working with vanilla for over 20 years each. He gets a good idea of what the price will be months in advance according to the day the orchids bloomed and how well they were pollinated (the weather has a lot to do with it). When he gets a bead on the price then he offers the graders a premium price over the average market price. They select the best beans over 16 cm long from several sources in the SAVA region. They in turn sell it to us and make a profit. The beans are quite potent, and often “blossom” with Givre.

We imported around 330 pounds and can import as much as 900 pounds before the quality may drop and therefore we stop buying. I refuse to offer anything but the best, as this is a part time business for me and I don’t want to mess around with a second-rate product. We try to keep our overhead low so we can be flexible with the pricing.
–Pete, Vanilla Gold LLC, email, April 8, 2008.

The beans arrived in zip-top bags, but the 17cm and 18cm beans had been recently vacuum packed.

Madagascar planifolia 17cm, 18cm ($19 per 20, $65 per pound)
Madagascar planifolia 19cm+ ($24 per 20, $85 per pound)
Vanilla Gold sent vanilla beans in three lengths for this review. All three sizes are nearly identical in quality. All three lengths are reviewed here, and each has an image gallery (17cm, 18cm, 19cm+). The 19cm+ beans are among the longest Madagascar planifolia beans featured on the site (April, 2008).

These are fantastic, very traditional, Madagascar vanilla beans. All the beans are black to dark brown. The skin is oily and supple. They are flexible, but not floppy — they’re plump and firm with caviar. They have a nice aroma, but it’s more buttery and mellow than I expected — I’m sure it’s because they weren’t vacuum packed in small quantities and less moisture was drawn from the beans.

Each vanilla bean is in perfect condition — none are split or damaged. As Pete mentioned in his e-mail, these come from master graders in Madagascar. Short split ends are perfectly acceptable in gourmet vanilla, they indicate a ripe, flavorful bean. However, when graders work with the super-high volumes found in Madagascar, it’s possible to select only beans that are cosmetically perfect.

Tattoos are visible on many beans. Several originated from the same grower. While up to half of each length have the same tattoo, there are no common growers among the different lengths.

All the Vanilla Gold beans are moist. The 18cm and 19cm+ are a tiny bit woodier than the 17cm beans. Longer vanilla spends more time maturing, it’s completely normal for it to have a woodier/thicker skin.

Caviar from the 17cm vanilla is thick and fatty. Caviar from the 18cm and 19cm+ size is oily, and slightly less fatty. Caviar yield was very high, especially from the 17cm beans.

The 17cm and 18cm beans were recently vacuum packed. The 19cm+ size have been open for some time, allowing a heavy coating of frost to form. I was able to take some clear pictures of the frost.

I sampled this vanilla in a crème brûlée. The flavor was strong and sweet.

All the beans are consistently oily, plump, and beautiful. Overall, the shortest are my personal favorite. This is the average sized Madagascar vanilla, grown in great volumes, so it tends to be the nicest. I think it’s the nicest of the three sizes — but only slightly. I highly recommend Vanilla Gold’s gourmet Madagascar vanilla.

Most vanilla growers sell raw vanilla to curing houses, where is it mixed with vanilla from other farms and cured. Tahiti Vanille (formerly La Vanillere) cures their own vanilla. Farm-curing usually means a super high quality boutique product with strong sense of place (terroir). I call it “first world vanilla”. This is the approach favored by vanilla growers in Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, and a few plantations in Tahiti. These beans will always be more expensive than commercially cured, third world vanilla beans.

The beans were packaged in a zip-top bag.

Tahiti Tahitensis Grade A 6.3″/16cm – $44.95 per 100 grams (~1/4 pound), or 20 for $64.95 (~5 oz)
These beans are fantastically plump, fragrant, and uniform. Easily some of the nicest beans I’ve ever handled. The skins have a wonderful soft texture.

The aroma is much sweeter and ‘cleaner’ than the PNG grown tahitensis beans I’ve reviewed. No chocolate component. Clear, floral, and above all, sweet. The floral aroma hit me every time I walked in my house, even with the beans stored in two layers of zip-bags. People much more important than me say it has a “prune dominance”…ok, maybe.

These beans presented a bit of a challenge to cut. I couldn’t get a clean bisection — the skin was too soft and pliable, it stretched and frayed as I cut it. I use the same knife in all the reviews, extract to gourmet, and never have a problem getting a nice slice. A razor might be more effective. Not a negative, just use the proper cutting equipment.

Inside, the beans are even more amazing. Sticky strings formed, stretched, and broke between the two halves as I pulled them apart — check out the picture. Super gooey and sticky caviar. Moist to the point of being gooey. Heavy caviar yield for only six beans. The oiliness of the bean was apparent when my fingers made the same strings as the beans! See the picture below.

Peter at vanillafromtahiti.com said these beans weren’t intended for extract. He’s right. I think the moisture content is very high — but thats ok! These beans are intended for five star deserts, not extract bottles. But that won’t stop us. So far, the extract is fantastic. After only 4 hours the extract was darker than others after a month. If you intend to make extract with these beans, use a bunch — according to the FDA you need to compensate for the extra moisture (above 25%) with more beans.

Six medium beans weighed in at about 40 grams, 6.5 grams each. vanillafromtahiti.com also sells mini, short, and long beans. Beans are sold by quantity, rather than weight, but these beans were all consistent in size, weight, and plumpness. At the time of this writing, a 100 gram (nearly 1/4 lb) bag of medium beans is available for $45.

Bottom line — “cleanest”, strongest, sweetest tahitensis aroma I’ve encountered. This is real farm-cured Tahitian Vanilla, and vanillafromtahiti.com has it at the best prices I’ve seen.

Tahitian Vanilla Extract – $9.95 for 2 ounces (59ml)
I think Peter was a bit appalled that I was going to cut up these fantastic beans to make extract — he also sent along their own extract made with Tahiti Vanille/Raiatea (formerly La Vanillere) vanilla beans.

This extract is more like my hand crafted extract than any commercial extract I’ve seen. Its a bit murky and light in color, unlike most dark translucent commercial extracts. Its not cut with sweeteners, an adulterant commonly used to reduce the alcohol smell.

The aroma was wonderful, just like the beans. I made icing and creme brulee with this extract to evaluate the flavor. This extract is highly faithful to the bean, and could be an acceptable substitute to making your own :)

According to Nadja at Vanilla-Trade:

Our Mexican Gourmet Vanilla comes from small farmers which grow their vanilla under organic standards but who are currently still not certified. Our vanilla is hand selected and only sun dried to achieve it’s typical & special flavour. We offer vanilla beans from 3 different quality categories which mainly differentiate in size and very slightly in it’s humidity content.

The beans were vacuum packed.

Gourmet ($4.50 for 2) and First Class Mexico planifolia ($14.40 for 50 grams)
These beans are really nice. They are highly moist, flexible, oily, and fragrant. One bean was cured so gently that an orchid pedal still clings to the pod. The beans are tan, nicely cured, and have beautiful skin. The Premium beans are a bit larger than the first class beans, but the price difference is significant.

Except for size, the Premium and FirstClass beans are exactly the same. I will only show the FirstClass sized beans in the remaining photos.

The skins is so soft, supple, and oily that I had to confirm they were sun killed, rather than boiled. Mexican beans are generally a bit woodier than “bourbon” style beans because of the Mexican curing method. These beans, however, are nothing like any other Mexican vanilla beans featured at this site.

The aroma has an unique, astringent quality. The beans yielded an average amount of muddy, gooey caviar — super oily, wet, and sticky. My hands and work-surface were stained brown/yellow with oil after rendering the beans.

I’m a huge fan of these vanilla beans, but they are a bit different than the typical Mexico planifolia bean. They lack the woodiness that is characteristic of the Mexican curing process. I used the fresh bean to make custard, and found it to be much different in flavor than the same custard made with another, more typical Mexican vanilla.

Mexico planifolia vanilla powder (sample)
Nadja also sent a sample of Vanilla-Trade’s vanilla powder. According to Nadja, the powder is pulverized extract quality beans, and not a post-extract product.
“It has aprox 1.8-1.9% of Vanillin content whereas our beans have between 2-2.3%. So the difference in the vanillin content is not that big and the powder is very handy if you like to bake.”
–Nadja, April 1, 2008.

The powder is exceptionally dry, almost like sawdust. It doesn’t have a strong aroma. I’m not sure when I’d bake with this instead of an extract or a bean. The Vanilla-Trade beans were fantastic, this powder is no substitute.

According to Haja at TopVanilla.com,

Our Vanilla beans comes from the North East Coast of Madagascar. The Sambava Region. We have a local inspector who checks the quality of the beans before they are shipped to us. — Haja, email, April 2, 2008.

The beans arrived super fast. They were vacuum packed.

Madagascar Planifolia Grade A 6-6.5 inches – 25 for $9.95 (~3 ounces)
TopVanilla.com’s beans are oily and black to black-brown. The beans are longer than advertised, none of the beans reviewed are under 17 cm (~6.7 inches).

The skin is extremely soft and supple. The beans are very flexible, to the point of being a bit floppy. All the beans are moderately plump; none are thin, scrawny, or flat. I could make out tattoos on about half of the beans.

The beans have a strong, bright, and spicy Madagascar aroma. The aroma is very strong — room filling. A high yield of rich, velvety caviar.

I sampled some of the beans in a custard. They have a rich, traditional Madagascar flavor. At less than $10 for 25, these are very reasonably priced Madagascar vanilla beans.

Riziky is a European (Belgium-based) vendor of Madagascar vanilla beans. Riziky is run by Phillipe and his wife, a native of Madagascar. These bean are pretty close to farm direct!According to Phillipe and his wife:

Riziky means “luck” in Malagasy, it’s the Malagasy name of our son and also the name of his grand-father. I grew up in a little lost village near Sambava, the capital of vanilla in Madagascar. My mother made vanilla from long time ago so I helped as child with my 3 brothers and 3 sisters. They live there without electricity and phone, so vanilla is very important for people there because sometime it’s hard to find food.

Fortunately, I had the opportunity to study in Belgium and France. I met my husband in Belgium and now I can buy the vanilla production of my family and give them a better price than the market. But as the production is not enough, my sister buys production from other little farmers, always with a fair price and only the best quality possible. Most people don’t know that vanilla production is a little like wine production: it depends a lot of the quality of the earth were grow the vanilla. So we buy vanilla only from the most renowned region.

Of course, this kind of vanilla is limited, it’s a little bit like the “Château Lafite” wine (laugh). We can’t sell tones of it, so our customers are mainly great restaurants, artisan glacier, and makers of other luxury food products.

The sample beans were vacuum packed.

Madagascar Planifolia Gourmet (14-17cm) 35 euros for 250 grams (~1/2 lbs)
Riziky’s gourmet beans are black, oily, and shiny. The aroma is intense and clean. It smells like the spicy nose of a freshly opened cola. A fantastic aroma.

The beans are flexible, but so plump they feel firm. They are uniformly plump — none of the beans are thin or flat. Below is a profile image comparing the plumpness (thinnest side) of a Riziky bean to another vendor’s bean of the same length and width. The Riziky bean is twice as thick (plump).

The skin is supple but not overly moist. Caviar is yellow, thick, and fatty. It’s moldable and clumps well. Caviar yield is slightly above average.

Madagascar Planifolia Premium (18-21cm) 45 euros for 250 grams (~1/2 lbs)
These super oily black beans are really long, but not quite long enough to place in the “Longest Bean Award“.

The Riziky Premium beans are not just longer, but also noticeably moister than their shorter counterparts. The aroma is intense and clean, but even more developed in the premium (longer) beans. Very plump — nearly cylindrical.

The caviar is slightly moister than the gourmet beans, and they yield about four times more caviar.

It’s quite common to see a few Madagascar beans with a visible tattoo, but never have I seen so many with the same tattoo. These markings could easily be mistaken as insect damage, but they’re really a series of pin-pricks that identify the bean grower.

“JDD” Tattoo

This picture shows three of the best examples. It reads “JDD”. Many tattoos shrivel into the side of the bean and may be hard to see. According to Philippe at Riziky:
Tattoos are done when the beans are green, so if there is a thief, the beans can be identified. In the bean period, you see regularly army “check points” to help people because theft is a real problem in these poor countries.

Often you can read the first letter of the name of the farmer:

The “JDD” tattoo was clearly visible on more than half of the premium beans. Very cool. (see the Vanilla Tattoo gallery, and be sure to submit your vanilla tattoo pictures)

I know of nowhere else to get multiple Madagascar beans from the same farm. Most Madagascar vanilla is processed by a central curing facility that mixes beans from the entire country. The identical tattoos on many of the Riziky beans show that they came from the same location, thus preserving elements of terroir.

Overall, both classes of Riziky vanilla are very impressive. The distinctive Madagascar aroma is especially potent and fresh. Highly recommended.

The sample beans arrived super fast.

Huge, plump beans with a “rustic” feel. All the beans, even the Tahitensis, were extremely pungent and chocolaty. This is the result of variations in technique, landscape, and weather best described as terroir. OVBC sells these huge PNG vanilla beans at a great price.

The beans were vacuum packed.

PNG Planifolia Grade A 8″+ ($12.50 per 1/4 pound)
Very round and plump vanilla beans… and HUGE! The longest beans in this review (February 2008, check the latest Longest Bean Awards…). These are advertised as the ‘plumpest bean on e-bay’ — they are certainly longer and fatter than the other e-Bay beans I reviewed. They are beautifully shaped. The firm skin has more of a matte finish than many beans, bit is very moist and flexible. Very high caviar yield — typical for very long beans. The caviar is moist and oily, it clumps well and is easy to shape. The aroma is extremely pungent, with dark, creamy, chocolate hints.

I like this distinct Papua New Guinea aroma even more than that of the Amadeus PNG beans — this is very similar to the aroma I noted in the XL PNG beans from Beanilla.com. I believe it has to do with the PNG curing method or the size/ripeness of the beans. Jack sent this great info about the super long beans:

“We have specific plantation that grow these extra long beans. Tahitensis rarely grow to longer than 18cm. For both varieties, only about 10% of the harvest falls into these super size lengths (18cm+ for Tahit. and 20cm+ for Bourbon). This is why these beans are sold at a premium.”

PNG Planifolia Grade B mixed sizes ($8.00 per 1/4 pound)
These are the first extract beans I reviewed. I’m surprised how nice these beans are. A bit drier, woodier, and uglier than the Grade A beans, but still plenty soft and flexible.

There are a variety of lengths, but all the beans are very long, wide, and plump. These beans have tons of caviar, but it’s slightly drier than the caviar from the grade A beans. Check out the close-up shots to see the difference in moisture content — but the caviar looks the same! Great extract beans, perfect for making a big bottle of PNG vanilla extract.

Woody extract beans can be harder to cut than a gourmet bean. Make sure you use a stable work surface.

PNG Tahitensis Grade A 7″+ ($10.00 per 1/4 pound)
Long, plump, attractive Tahitensis beans — probably the longest Tahitensis beans in this review. The beans are flexible and have oily skins. A moderately high yield of moist caviar. The texture of the caviar is crumbly.

These beans have a very pungent Tahitensis aroma. One thing different about these beans is the color of the oil that leaked during preparation. Whereas most beans have a yellow-brown oil, these had an oil that was more of a green-gray. I don’t claim to know what this means, but I find it interesting.

PNG Tahitensis Grade B mixed sizes (unavailable)
Grade B Tahitensis beans are available. Write for info (info@organic-vanilla.com) on the Tahitensis extract beans, they sell out pretty fast. I’ll try to review them when the next crop is available.