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.

 

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.