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.

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.

 

 

 

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.

 

A reader recommended that I check out Beanilla.com. I’m glad I did. Beanilla.com is great source for exotic vanilla beans. Beans from Mexico and Tonga are currently listed, but I’m told they will soon add vanilla from Indonesia, Tahiti (tahitensis), Uganda, and Hawaii. I sent out an e-mail, and Brent of Beanilla.com responded right away. He used the magic phrases that make any DIY’er tingle — first, Beanilla.com’s goal is to support the vanilla enthusiast community (that’s us!), and second, were can I send samples. The samples arrived promptly with some exotic vanillas, and the LONGEST vanilla beans I’ve seen so far (January 2008).

All the beans from Beanilla.com are gorgeous and truly gourmet. They are uniformly plump, moist, and oily. Check out my close-up shots to see the different characteristics of each variety. All the beans reviewed in this instructable are excellent, but the Beanilla beans are the cream of the crop, close to perfect.

The beans were vacuum packed.

‘Eua, Tonga Planifolia (Grade A - $45 per 1/4 pound)
Beanilla.com is the only vendor in the US that sells vanilla from Tonga. Vanilla is an emerging export from Tonga and the industry is just getting started. These vanilla beans were grown on ‘Eua Island. They are almost golden (but not as light as the pictures seem to depict). The skins are amazingly soft and supple. The aroma is more floral than the typical Madagascar bean, very soft and smooth. The oil in the Tonga vanilla is especially ‘thick’ and fatty. It’s so thick that the caviar log could withstand substantial handling without falling apart. Often caviar is crumbly, but this was almost like vegetable shortening. Much higher-than-average caviar yield.

 

Mexico Planifolia (Grade A - $28.95 per 1/4 pound)
Beautiful vanilla beans with striking reddish “cat’s eye” streaks. Check out the close-up pictures to see for yourself. The aroma is very dark, even woody. These have the firmest skin of the five Beanilla bean varieties.

These aren’t the only Mexican vanilla beans on the web, but this is the only vendor (with beans from Mexico) that responded to questions (emails) about their beans — Beanilla.com is thus the only source I can recommend. UPDATE: Beanilla.com reduced their prices, they now have the best priced “real” Mexican vanilla beans I’ve seen.

 

Extra Long PNG Planifolia (”Gourmet Bourbon”) (Grade A - $40 per 1/4 pound)
Huge beans, some are almost 9″! By far the longest vanilla beans I’ve ever seen (January 2008, check the latest Longest Bean Awards…). Shockingly huge! These beans are from PNG, but have a much different aroma than other PNG beans I’ve reviewed. The smell is a combination of bold old-school chocolate licorice and coffee. I’ve read that bigger beans ripen longer and become more pungent — perhaps that accounts for the strong aroma. I’m excited to extract these beans — only the difference between planifolia and tahitensis has been similarly pronounced. Remarkable! So incredibly different from any others reviewed in this instructable.

These are also some of the “roundest” vanilla beans I’ve ever seen. Sometimes beans are paper thin, even ‘plump’ beans have a wide and a narrow side — these were perfectly round and firm, but not tough. Caviar yield was obviously very high, twice as much as a similar number of average sized beans. The caviar was a bit like clay — not fatty like the Tonga beans, but still moldable and cohesive.

 

Madagascar Planifolia (Grade A - $22.50 per 1/4 pound)
These are the highest quality Madagascar beans I’ve reviewed. A spicy Madagascar vanilla aroma, with the brightness of “true” cinnamon. What really differentiates these from other Madagascar beans is their uniform plumpness. Take a look at the first picture — not a scrawny bean in the bunch. All the Beanilla beans were exceptionally oily, and these are no exception. The caviar texture is typical for Madagascar vanilla, but I’m a bit surprised by the moderate caviar yield considering the size of these beans.

 

PNG Tahitensis (Grade A - $15.99 per 1/4 pound)
Beanilla’s tahitensis are uniformly plump, oily, almost perfect vanilla beans. These are superior, gourmet quality tahitensis, and this is reflected in the price. Sometimes beans are quite thin, flat, and vary in size, these are plump, wide, and uniform. Take a look at the ‘pile’ picture below, this shot is intended to give you a good closeup view of the bean profile. These have the typical tahitensis floral aroma. The caviar is spongy, light, and airy, with a medium-sized yield. Oil from these beans is red/brown — caviar usually leaves a yellowish oil — see the picture. Really amazing vanilla beans.

 

Indonesia, Tahiti (tahitensis), Uganda, and Hawaii (Grade A)
According to Rob Conley (CEO):
“Soon we will be offering … some other vanilla bean varieties, including Indonesian Vanilla, Tahitian (Tahiti) Vanilla and Ugandan Vanilla. We have also been working closely with farmers from Hawaii for the last 2 years. We are hoping that the crops will be ready to cure by mid 2008 so we can offer genuine Hawaiian vanilla to our online customers.” Rob Conley, Beanilla Trading Co, Letter, received January 21st, 2008.

Arizona Vanilla Company has a webstore and listings on eBay. The beans were packed in bags.

Arizona Vanilla Company (AZVC) was the last major multi-origin US vanilla bean vendor to be added to this site. AZVC advertises their Mexico planifolia beans as the recipients of a Gold Star Award from Sante` Magazine in 2006. When the Mexican beans went on sale, I couldn’t resist adding them to the site.

I bought 15 Mexico origin 8″ vanilla beans on eBay. Additionally, I ordered one Madagascar bean and one Tahiti grown tahitensis. The beans arrived super fast, but there were only 14, 7″ Mexican vanilla beans. Eric at AZVC explained that the most recent crop from Mexico was 7″ instead of 8″. He offered a replacement order or a refund. I ask for a replacement.

I’m not the only one to experience missing items in my order. An Instructables member, though very satisfied, e-mailed about missing items in their order.

Eric sent an additional package of 15 larger Mexico beans and 5 Madagascar beans. He explained that the first Mexican beans were from the 2006 harvest, and the second shipment are the current 2007 harvest. According to Eric, “The 2007 harvest was not very good due to the 2 hurricanes that hit the Mexican vanilla growing region in 2007. About half the harvest was destroyed…” –Eric C Elsberry, email, April 8, 2008.

Mexico planifolia, first shipment (crop of 2006).
I received 14, approximately 7″ Mexican vanilla beans. The beans are dark brown, shiny, and oily. They have the characteristic woodiness of Mexico origin vanilla.

The beans are beautifully flexible, but quite thin. The aroma is moderately strong. An above average yield of nice, airy caviar, despite being thin beans.

 

Mexico planifolia, second shipment (crop of 2007).
The second, replacement shipment of Mexican vanilla beans is fairly disappointing. These beans are longer, but browner, dryer, and woodier. A couple of the beans are quite scrawny and disfigured. Even though they are exceptionally water-dry, they are still very oily — even greasy.

Cutting them is like cutting extract grade beans. One bean snapped in two places when flexed.

Dry broken vanilla bean.

They have a low caviar yield for so many beans, though some were so scrawny and thin that it was nearly impossible to cut them open and remove the caviar. Airy, normal caviar, but a bit on the dry side.

Scrawny vanilla bean.

 

Madagascar planifolia
AZVC’s Madagascar vanilla beans are very oily and flexible. An advertisement for these beans says they can be tied in a knot - I was able to do this without damaging the bean. They are fairly short beans, and black to black-brown in color.

Several beans are plump, some are very thin. The first bean I received has a visible tattoo. The caviar is airy, though cohesive. Yield is below average.

 

Tahiti tahitensis
This is a real Tahiti grown tahitensis vanilla bean. It has a nice aroma and excellent cure. I think it’s from general island growers, probably through Jean Chan, and not a specific plantation, like Le Vanillere.

The bean I received was not nearly as plump as the Tahitian vanilla previously reviewed. This image shows that, despite being very wide, this bean is only moderately thick.

Caviar yield is above average, but very dry and spongy. This caviar isn’t at all gooey or muddy, like the previous Tahiti tahitensis vanilla beans I reviewed.

 

Amadeus shipped the beans in loosely sealed plastic bags. Watch out for the minimum order charge if you just get the sampler, like I did. Glenn at Amadeus has been a great resource for this article. This is “the” place to buy Uganda Planifolia vanilla beans. Their sampler pack is a great way to start your extract collection.

Indonesia Planifolia (Grade A)
A darker-smelling bean, very moist. The fragrance was warm and spicy, like cardamom, coffee, or incense, but also a bit chemical somehow. Very long and pretty beans, but not the strongest fragrance.

Madagascar Planifolia (Grade A) Regular and Super Long
These have the ‘classic’ vanilla aroma. Both the regular and super long varieties had plenty of caviar. The super longs are well cured, with a pliable but firm skin. Instructables member cdrivanova ordered the 1/4 lb sampler pack with the regular sized Madagascar beans, you can verify the quality of these beans in her Flickr photo set.

Glenn at Amadeus Trading sent me the Super Long beans to replace an order of regular sized beans that were short, dry, and stick-like (see Madagascar vanilla comparison). Amadeus acknowledged the problem and sent replacement beans. While there was nothing wrong with the original beans flavor-wise, they didn’t meet my (or Glenn’s) expectations for Grade A vanilla beans.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) Planifolia (Grade A)
While these were the next-smallest beans (after Madagascar) from Amadeus, their caviar yield was rather high. It smelled the most “vanilla-like” of all the beans, with a soft and velvety fragrance that made me think of ice cream, or som