VANILLA PROCESS

Vanilla starts to flower three years after plantation. Every year, farmers must take care of the plantation and follow the process of preparation:

• - Pollination is done manually early in the morning from September to December in Madagascar
• - Vanilla beans reach maturity nine months after pollination. The harvest time of green beans is from June to September. The official starting day of the season is decided by the ministry of trade.
• - Green beans are soaked in hot water of 70 ° C for 40 to 50 seconds depending to the level of maturity of pods. This step helps to kill the vegetative life of the pods
• - Scalded pods are covered in a blanket and placed in a warm wooden box for 24 to 48 hours. This process launches the enzymatic effect and stimulates the formation of vanillin. After 24 hours of steaming, the pods start to become brown
• - The sun drying process is very important to increase the immune system and the vanillin content of the pods. It is a natural way to eliminate some bacteria. Vanilla pods are exposed to the sun everyday for one to two hours to reduce their moisture. This process may take up to one month depending to the rainfall. It requires a lot of human resources
• - Drying beans are selected and brought to the shade. The airflow dries the beans for 15 to 30 days inside the warehouse

After all those process, the pods are classified according to their quality to have uniform batch of vanilla. The packaging depends to the Purchase Order and the modality of transportation