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Mary submitted this interesting list of vanilla translations:

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.

Clare at Huahua Farm just informed me that:

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.

Welcome Slashfood readers. Vanilla beans from Huahua Farm on the Big Island of Hawaii are now available for sale.

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.

Super thick vanilla extract
Vanilla tahitensis

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?

Rosc posted about the Vanilla Products USA June 2008 special. From e-Bay:

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.

Jack at The Organic Vanilla Bean Company provided this description of their vanilla sourcing process in Papua New Guinea:

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.

Vanilla interest peaks around the winter holidays, and wanes immensely during the summer. For this reason, I'm going to do fewer daily postings in June, July, and August. Expect daily posting to resume in the Fall.

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