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Vanilla of Madagascar
Crops techniques
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| | Vanilla belongs to the orchidaceae family. Among the numerous species of vanilla, only vanilla fragans, vanilla pompona and vanilla tahitensis are cultivated.
Climbing, branching, terrestrial orchid growing on trees and shrubs from warm, moist forest in the tropics and subtropics.
They have thick, adventitious roots with succulent, jointed, green stems that climb or trail and bear stalk-less or short-stalked, sometimes absent, ovate to oblong, fleshy medium green leaves, 6 inches long. In spring, bears auxiliary racemes of many yellow-green flowers, ¾ inch across, with yellow-haired lips, followed by pendulous, cylindrical, brown seedpods, 6-10 inches long.
The vanilla bush is a tropical plant that requires a warm and humid climate. The temperature must be as even as possible. It fears the cold and extreme heat. Even though a few weeks of drought help the floral induction and the maturity of the beans, the plant requires regular heavy rains.
A light shade offers the optimal condition for the plant development.
Because of its heavy rain needs, the vanilla plant grows wonderfully on light well-drained soils.
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It is the region of Sava in Madagascar that we find all the necessary conditions to grow that orchid. It can be found at the sea level as well as at an altitude of 700 meters (2,300 feet). | |
There is a simple truism about vanilla: the finest vanilla can only come from the finest vanilla beans. It is no mystery that great vanilla is the result of painstaking care. Growing vanilla is extremely labor intensive--a delicate and inevitably expensive operation. Hurrying the process or attempting shortcuts diminishes quality. Only a small portion of the beans grown worldwide is given the care and patience that allows the bean to fully mature, a process critical to obtaining the finest flavor from each individual bean.
The vanilla planifolia is a tropical, evergreen, leafy, and somewhat fleshy vine, growing under a canopy of support trees.
The plant is sustainable within a 20-degrees band around the equator.
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Vanilla vines require three years before they bear fruit. Each spring the plant bears small, pale greenish-yellow orchids. Like most orchids, the blossoms grow along stems branching from the main vine.
he buds, growing along the 6 to 10 inch stems, bloom and mature in sequence, each at a different time. | |
| | Without pollination the blossom wilts and falls, and no vanilla bean can grow. Each flower must be hand-pollinated within 12 hours of opening.
A small splinter of wood or a grass stem is used to lift the rostellum or flap out of the way so that the overhanging anther can be pressed against the stigma to effect self pollination.
On the plantations, girls pollinate hundreds of flowers by hand with their “needles”. A healthy vine should produce about 100 pods per year, however growers are careful to pollinate only a few of the blossoms on each stem (8 to 10 on each stem).
Over pollination results in diseased and unhealthy inferior beans.
The vanilla bean grows quickly on the vine but is not ready for harvest until maturity- approximately nine months. Harvesting vanilla beans is as labor intensive as pollinating the blossoms. To ensure the finest flavor from every bean, each individual pod must be picked by hand just before it splits. | |
. One by one we pick them at the peak of their perfection. It is crucial that the vanilla bean not be harvested until it is yellow on the tip and is beginning to split on the end. If picked too green the bean will lack flavor and develop molds that will eventually cause it to rot. Ten to twelve harvests are necessary to harvest all the beans from one parcel.
In Madagascar vanilla is planted in October, after the first two years of growing the floral induction is realized in July-August. The flowers appear from September to January with November as their peak. The maturity of the beans is generally reached from mid-July of the next year.
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