Finally...
Today I finally got to try the vanilla that I planted in the ground almost 6 years ago. Even though the bottle date says otherwise, this vanilla was actually pollinated almost 3 years ago.
It takes almost 9 months after pollinating for a vanilla bean (technically a pod) to be mature enough to harvest. After harvesting, it takes almost another 6-9 months to ferment and then fully cure (depending on how traditional you want to be with the cure). After that, it takes an additional 9 months to a year of soaking in vodka to get a concentration high enough to be considered vanilla.
This being my first attempt at curing (or at least 2 years ago it was), I know I could have cured them longer and gotten more potency. We have a mother that this was decanted off off where we put 20 beans into 2 liters of vodka.
My partner and I did a testing today and I have to say it was magical. We compared it with the Costco brand Madagascar vanilla and it completely blew it away in terms of flavor... if the Costco vanilla was more concentrated (probably I didn't cure my beans fully).
It was much.. brighter and much more floral than the Costco vanilla. Also, and it wasn't until we went back and forth between the Costco and our vanilla to compare a few times, but because we now had this much higher quality vanilla to compare to, we actually started tasting off notes in the Costco vanilla. Which was interesting because we have noticed that before,but thought it was something else. After tasting ours, and comparing it, we could clearly taste a 'moldy' or forest floor flavor in the Costco that ours didn't have any hint of.
So just posting because this is an accomplishment almost 6+ years in the making. The number of beans harvested has gone up every year and this year we probably had 20x the number of flowers of previous years because our vines are finally becoming fully mature. We're hoping to have enough to actually sell some (just cured beans) starting maybe holiday season this year.
Thank you for engaging with this post.
Td
(! necessary gratuitous vanilla flower and vine shots)
What an accomplishment! Very very cool. Are they hard to grow?
Umm. It's hard to say because probably and they require a pretty niche environment. But they're also surprisingly hardy and pest resistant. They definitely come with their challenges because actually getting flowers is all about stress management.
Basically, if the plant is too cosy, it just won't flower. It will keeping kicking out vegetative growth and just go about it's merry way. But you'll not get flowers and no flower mean no can vanilla. However, the vines depend on getting their tendrils into the soil, and too much stress can cause their tendrils to die. But like any thing you put your self into, you figure out eventually.
Pollinating is tough in that it's a pretty precise surgical exercise. But you eventually get the hang of it. I maybe had 50% failure in pollinating this year? And you have to do it manually, every morning. And the flowers are only open for pollinating for a brief window of time. If you wait too late the flowers for that day close back up and die.
Curing is tedious because you have a whole daily routine of wrapping them up in a blanket, then unravelling them so they can rest in the sun, then wrapping them back up into their lil blankets again. At least that's the traditional approach but I honestly think it's a overkill.
So idk. You might be the better judge.
Good grief and i am just happy when my peppers grow. That is some serious work.
our tomatoes have had a few seasons where they didn't turn red and we've weighed the benefits of letting them return to the soil versus fried green tomatoes. fried green tomatoes has been winnining more and more lately