Vanilla Growing
Vanilla as a shade crop grown in support of Glyricidia as a tertiary crop in plantations. High density of 2m x 1m is possible with well matured planting stocks. Consulting for setting up farm available.
VANILLA FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Porteres in Bouriquet (1954) describes 110 species of vanilla, distributed in the tropics of both the world and the New World. They belong to the orchid family, Orchidaceae, which is the largest family of flowering plants, with about 700 genera and 20,000 species. The Orchidaceae comprise a very natural, distinctive and highly advanced group of monocotyledons. They are perennial herbs which are widely distributed throughout the world with the greatest number in the tropics.
On the Mexican Vanilla story:
GUTIERREZ ZAMORA, Mexico - In the birthplace of the vanilla bean, Olga Edda Gaya-Capellini aims to secure her town's future by reclaiming its past.
Gutierrez Zamora and nearby Papantla, two rural towns 300 miles south of the Texas border, once ranked as twin dynamos that sent vanilla's delicate flavor and fragrance to the four corners of the globe.
Now, after decades of decline, Gaya-Capellini wants to restore the region's former glory. Her first goal is shipping her family's vanilla extract to gourmet shops around the United States.
``We want to rescue vanilla in Mexico,'' said Gaya-Capellini, the manager of Gaya Vai-Mex in Gutierrez Zamora, a stone's throw from the Gulf of Mexico in the sweltering state of Veracruz. ``We're going to recover our prestige.''
Mexico's storied vanilla industry is launching a comeback, as industry leaders unveil plans to reclaim a flavoring that used to be as Mexican as tequila or chile peppers.
With global vanilla prices at an all-time high, a handful of extract makers such as Gaya Vai-Mex are challenging competitors from other nations, including the United States.
They're also taking on domestic manufacturers who have cornered the market with synthetic vanilla.
Despite a reputation as an inferior flavoring, vanilla-flavored chemical cocktails now account for nearly all of Mexico's domestic market -- not to mention most sales to unsuspecting foreign tourists.
Meanwhile, more than 1,000 growers in Veracruz are ramping up vanilla bean production. Since vanilla must be pollinated, harvested and cured by hand, industry leaders hope to create jobs for the busloads of locals who now leave for the United States and the border region.
``This is the renaissance of vanilla production in Mexico,'' said Heriberto Larios, a vanilla grower in Papantla who provides technical advice to dozens of other farmers.
First, however, the Mexican vanilla industry will have to reverse its long decline.
Once the world's largest supplier, Mexico produced a mere 24 tons of dried vanilla beans last year. Market leader Madagascar typically produces 1,000 tons a year. The vanilla plant originally hails from Mexico and Central America, and its historical roots run deepest around Papantla and Gutierrez Zamora. History credits the area's Totonac Indians as the first to produce large quantities of it, as early as 800 years ago.
In recent years, demand for natural vanilla has risen sharply in the United States as Americans discover it isn't just for ice cream. It can be used for everything from pastries to perfumes. Some connoisseurs can even tell which region of a particular country a vanilla bean hails from.
Mexico was the world's leading vanilla supplier until the middle of the 19th century, and it remained among the top producers for decades afterward. Then, starting in 1910, the Mexican Revolution disrupted production for several years.
Later, oil companies struck black gold in Poza Rica, about 20 miles from Papantla. Their wells, refineries and roads destroyed part of the plant's habitat.
After World War II, synthetic vanillas and rising production in Madagascar dropped the price to historic lows.
Many farmers switched to cattle ranching or cash crops such as citrus and bananas, which eroded the land. By the 1990s, Mexico's production of dried vanilla had dropped to an all-time low of 13 tons per year.
Then tragedy struck halfway around the world, spelling opportunity here.In the year 2000, cyclones destroyed about a third of Madagascar's vanilla crop and inventory. In addition, political instability slowed the island nation's exports.
Prices skyrocketed to as much as $100 per pound, from previous levels as low as $25 per pound. And industry leaders in Veracruz began plotting their return.
Today, only 1,200 acres are still planted with vanilla around Papantla and Gutierrez Zamora. But growers recently made a serendipitous discovery : Orange trees provide an ideal host for vanilla plants, which depend on tree trunks for support.
As it happens, orange trees blanket 250,000 acres of the region's verdant meadows and rolling hills, their fruit glinting in the sun like tropical Christmas tree lights.``We have the potential to produce 800 to 1,000 tons of dried vanilla,'' said Victor Vallejo, the director of the Veracruz Vanilla Council.
If so, that would vault Mexico back to the ranks of top producers. The question is what happens to the vanilla price.
``We have a major shortage now, but what is going to happen is that in two or three years we're going to see a terrible glut in vanilla,'' said Rain, the vanilla queen.Back in her office, Gaya-Capellini rails against those who produce artificial imitations of a natural flavoring Mexico gave to the world.
``We need to do away with this erroneous perception that Mexican vanilla is no good,'' Gaya-Capellini said. ``We're going to take the vanilla extract market back for Mexico.''
Extracted from Mercury News service
Mexico monopolized the production of vanilla until the 19th century, Now its vanilla industry is concentrated primarily around Papantla.
But most vanilla beans come from Madagascar and Indonesia. Vanilla also is cultivated in Costa Rica, Uganda, China, India, Fiji, Tahiti, Guatemala, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and the Philippines.
The story here traces the systems and practices in some of these areas and their visuals.
The official name of Madagascar is the Republic of Madagascar.Madagascar is an island country, off the east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean.Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world.From 1895 France governed Madagascar. In 1960, the country became a fully independent country called the Malagasy Republic. It became the Democratic Republic of Madagascar in 1975 and the Republic of Madagascar in 1993.
The capital of Madagascar is Antananarivo, home to over 2 million people.The official languages of Madagascar are Malagasy and French.Madagascar is home to over 22 million people (22,599,098) as of July 2013.
The highest mountain in Madagascar is Maromokotro at 2876 m (9436 ft).
Madagascar is classed as one of the world’s 17 megadiverse countries that are considered to be home to the majority of the worlds biodiversity. Over 70% of the 250,000 wildlife species found in Madagascar are found nowhere else in the world. While 90% of the estimated 14,000 plants native to Madagascar are also found nowhere else.
The Totonac tribe of Mexico is credited with being the first to use vanilla as a flavouring, possibly over a thousand years ago.
Their favourite drink, ‘chocolatl’, was made from powdered cocoa beans, ground corn and vanilla pods. Conquistador Hernan Cortes of Spain introduced vanilla to Europe in the early 16th century. Old Totonac lore says that Xanat, the young daughter of the Mexican fertility goddess, loved a Totonac youth. Unable to marry him due to her divine nature, she transformed herself into a plant that would provide pleasure and happiness. She became the vanilla orchid so that she could forever belong to her human love and his people. The local people still celebrate a vanilla festival to this day.
Vanilla is also used in aromatherapy and its fragrance is said to calm, relax and soften anger, frustrations and irritability.
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Commercial vanilla is propagated by rooted stem cuttings. In vegetative propagation, the cuttings should be taken from healthy vigorous plants and may be cut from any part of the vine. We trail our mother vines in areca or such trees without allowing them to flower for production of mohter stock for planting. We provide technical support for planting and also help in undertsanding the physiology and agro practices required to harvest pods from least gestation periods.
We present vanilla projects, visits, products, explorations in a journey. Do have our views entice you to a new beginning.
Vanilla as a shade crop grown in support of Glyricidia as a tertiary crop in plantations. High density of 2m x 1m is possible with well matured planting stocks. Consulting for setting up farm available.
Process of Harvesting the ripe pods and convert them into gourmet beans through a process of bourbon -killing, sweating, drying and conditioning. Process techniques that make for quality and high grade vanilla end products.
Vanilla Beans - Gourmet and extraction grades, vanilla paste, Vanilla pwoder, and vanilla extracts including vanilla absolute. Beans- A grade, B Grade and extraction. Vanilla paste for use in icecream, pastries and confectionery industry.
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