For the past two months the old server was so bad that it was impossible for me to post new material. All but the most persistent posters found it impossible to comment. This should improve with the new server.

The good news is that vanillareview.com, especially the extract tutorial, is getting a ton of traffic. The bad news is that I had to upgrade to a business hosting plan. I may need to put some ads on the site to help pay for the hosting. If there are ads, they will only appear on the blog (this page) and the extract tutorial. I think it would be tacky to show ads for other companies on a vendor review that uses donated vanilla samples.

Welcome to the site, and please enjoy.

The company above is helping land owners to grow vanilla . The land owners will have to  come out with a capital based on acreage.  Everything will be provided by the company above. It takes 3 years for the first harvesting. When ready, Vanilla Biometrix will purchase from the land owners and do the curing. Vanilla Biometrix will produce by products eg. vanilla pods, extract etc. and sell.

They will fax a spec sheet for the vanilla plantation costing.

Thanks for the update Samantha.

I had a ton of new bean samples arrive this week, with 2 more coming today or next week. From left to right: 3 lengths and grades from Villa Vanilla / Rainforestspices.com in Costa Rica, 2 tahitensis samples (Bora Bora, Tahaa) from Tahiti Vanille in Tahiti, and one vial of beans from a family farm in Madagascar. Look for new notes and pictures every day next week.

In an interview with thesundaypost last month, Land Development Minister Dato Sri Dr James Jemut Masing said vanilla is the perfect crop for smallholders because of the huge production rate and economic returns as well as low labour and planting area requirements.

Tammi’s Friends Shoppe sends word of more vanillareview.com merchandise. Check out this fashionable apron. Thanks Tammi.

Related
Vanillareview.com T-shirt

…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 Cbandoned, 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.”…

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.

Here's the rest. I'll have a plantation gallery posted in a few days.

Real vanilla, as the makers of Coke understand, gives foods a certain je ne sais quoi. Its rich, multifaceted flavor derives in part from the careful hand-rearing the beans receive. The orchid that produces the pods is something of a diva, making vanilla one of the world's most labor-intensive crops.

Read the rest: How vanilla became shorthand for bland.

Henry at Villa Vanilla/Rainforestspices.com sent several great pictures of the plantation in Costa Rica. Check them out in the new Villa Vanilla plantation gallery.

Chris at Silver Could Estates sent such a big sample for review that I’m giving away the extras. See the complete details here.

This is really a great deal — 25 beans (~1/4 lbs) is $19.99. For only a few dollars more than the cheapest Madagascar beans, you can get some really top shelf gourmet vanilla beans. Check out their Tonga vanilla beans too — some of my favorites, and the only place to buy them in the US.

Henry at Villa Vanilla/Rainforest Spices in Costa Rica 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”.

Henry Karczynski
Villa Vanilla, Costa Rica
www.rainforestspices.com

Thanks Henry! Check back soon for more info on these biodynamic, sustainably grown, vanilla beans from Costa Rica.

It's my opinion that every vanilla bean product sold by Arizona Vanilla Company is available cheaper, and higher quality, from other vendors who offer an entirely different class of customer service. On this site you can check some other vendors or view vanilla beans by origin.

If you're a loyal customer or fan of AZVC, that's great! Here's your chance to get free shipping through the end of July — or check out the previous 15% off coupon if that saves you more.

To celebrate the launching of our new webstore look and feel, we are offering FREE SHIPPING through the end of July!!!!! Use coupon code Shipping0708 in the shopping cart to take advantage of this special offer!

Related
Last time I posted a coupon code, I got a bunch of nasty letters — all from the same internet IP address used by the Arizona Vanilla Company…
Arizona Vanilla Company July 2008 15% Discount Code.

At this stage we are concentrating on investigating the science behind the cultivation of vanilla and the science behind the curing process. We have just appointed a Ph.D. student to from the University of Western Sydney to further these studies.

Paul Squires
Managing Director

Related
Vanilla in Australia

Tammi has vanilla review t-shirts in her Cafepress webstore. I love the slogan: “Ask me about my beans”.

I talked to someone at Vanilla Export Company months ago, but lost contact.

SODG is a Dutch investment group that is betting on teak plantations and vanilla in Costa Rica. Google says they were sued and might not be active anymore…

Rainforest Spices was submitted some time ago, but I forgot about it until recently. They actually list products for sale, including vanilla beans, vanilla extract, and cinnamon.

*UPDATE*
After some reflection, I added Costa Rica to the list of vanilla producing countries because beans seem to be available from Rainforest Spices. I've written for further info, I'll keep you updated with any replies.

Cost of 250g Vanilla Bean A grade – FJ$50.00
Freight Via DHL – FJ$99.00
———-
Total – FJ$149.00
———-

That's a bit more than $100 or 64 euros.

I might be convinced to send half that much, but $100 is too much. I'm also uncertain of the bank fees.

Would anyone like to split an order (4 oz each for $50) or preferably divide it further (2 oz each for $25)? Let me know through the contact form.

Don’t know what to do with a bunch of extracted vanilla beans? How about making a big bag of vanilla sugar.

I just received this package from Silver Cloud Estates, with 8 oz (250 grams, 0.5 pounds) of vanilla planifolia beans grown at the Estate in India. A full review should be ready in the next few days.

[This] shows a raceme that produced a lot of extra mini-racemes. That year I had a bumper crop. I pinched off most of the excess racemes to encourage larger beans on the primary raceme.

Clare sent more pictures of Huahua Farm on the Big Island of Hawaii. See the vanilla vines and plantation in the Huahua Farm Hawaii vanilla gallery.

This is a vanilla sampler gift set that I gave as a wedding gift. It contains a selection of vanilla extracts: Madagascar planifolia and Papua New Guinea planifolia and tahitensis. Click the image for larger versions.

This would be even more luxurious if accompanied by some homemade vanilla sugar.

I really like the glass bottles with swing tops. Do you have any vanilla extract container suggestions? Please share them in the comments.

I have been getting quite a few orders for the vanilla beans and
unfortunately really don't have many this year. Next year will be better.

I had to raise the price because the new postal rates added a dollar to my cost. Used to be able to just mail them like a first-class letter but now anything with an uneven thickness has an extra charge.

Related
Hawaiian vanilla beans now available.

The price is a bit higher than last year: $8.50 for 2 beans (including postage). These are still the cheapest Hawaiian vanilla beans you can buy. This is the 2007-2008 crop that I reviewed here.

**UPDATE**
Clare writes: I had to raise the price because the new postal rates added a dollar to my cost. Used to be able to just mail them like a first-class letter but now anything with an uneven thickness has an extra charge.

Related
Huahua Farm plantation gallery.

This weekend I filtered the extract of Madagascar planifolia and Papua New Guinea tahitensis vanilla beans from Vanilla Products USA. This picture shows the thick, viscous extract from 4 oz (1/4 lbs) tahitensis vanilla beans soaked in about 2 cups (500ml) of vodka. Vanilla extract can become thick because vanilla beans contain 25% sugars.

Related

Vanilla Products USA June sale.

Whats in a vanilla bean?

Free pound of Tahitian Grade A Gourmet Vanilla Beans with any order over $40!

Free 1/2 pound of Tahitian Grade A Gourmet Vanilla Beans with any order over $25!

Here’s the deal: Place any order totaling over $40 (not including shipping) and receive a free pound of Tahitian Grade A Gourmet (PNG – Papua New Guinea 5 ~ 6″) vanilla beans. This would normally sell for over $20!

Don’t want to order $40 worth? How about $25 worth and you get a free 1/2 pound of Tahitian Grade A Gourmet beans (5 ~ 6 “), normally selling for over $10.

Here’s how to get your free beans…

Click read more for the rest of the details.

Place an order totaling over $40 or $25 (not including shipping) starting May 29th through June 30th. You can order the items separately – just send us an email when you are done ordering and we will send you a combined invoice.

Do not place an order for your free beans, that will be added automatically.

Best of all, there is no extra shipping charge for your free beans in the US. For Canada, the shipping charges are $11, elsewhere in the world $13.

We actually source and cure our beans in three ways:

• We have our own plantations where we grow and cure beans on site.
• We also buy beans from our Grower Groups (under our control). This will be enhanced now that we are getting an Australian Organic Certification in a few months. The beans that we buy are in the same geographical area as our plantations. Except as below, all beans are grown and cured at these farms.
• We also buy some green beans from our Grower Group members. We cure these beans ourselves at our depot in Wewak PNG, where we sort and quality control all beans prior to packing and export.

I'll still be around to answer all your vanilla questions — just leave a comment or use the contact form. Also, keep an eye out for a new review of Indian vanilla beans in the next few weeks.

You should still start now if you want hand-extracted vanilla for the holidays! Read the directions here

Have a great summer.

Ian
vanillareview.com