From the vine
to the cured bean
A vanilla bean is picked green and almost scentless. Its colour and aroma develop
during several months of traditional curing, carried out entirely in our Sambava workshops.
In SAVA, every vanilla flower is pollinated by hand, on the day it opens. The bean then ripens for about nine months on the vine.
Our greenhouses grow our rare varieties. For Bourbon vanilla, we buy from planters and cooperatives across SAVA, and collectors also bring their lots directly to our door. We examine every lot before buying it. Green vanilla is bought only during the harvest season, from June to early September.
Scalding.
Shortly after harvest, the green beans are dipped for a few minutes in hot, not boiling, water. This stops ripening and starts the reactions that create vanilla’s aroma.
Sweating.
Still warm, the beans are shut in boxes lined with blankets. They slowly sweat, turn chocolate brown and begin to develop their fragrance.
Drying.
Every day, the beans are spread out in the sun for a few hours, then brought back into the shade. Over several weeks they lose water slowly, become supple and glossy, and their aroma concentrates.
Conditioning.
The beans then rest for several months in closed trunks. This slow step gives our vanilla its rich, deep notes.
Massaging, sorting and grading.
Our team massages each bean to keep it supple, then sorts and grades the beans by hand, by size and quality, before packing.
Twenty people work with us in Sambava. Our curing workshop is run by people who had worked with vanilla for decades before the company was founded in 2015.
Traditional curing
Do you buy green vanilla yourself? Industrial groups entrust their green vanilla to our workshops, where we cure it with the same method as our own lots.
Contact us to discuss volumes and timing.