The Vanilla Journey
The vanilla journey
Vanilla Planifolia: orchid that grows on a vine
The Vanilla plant is part of the Orchid family. It is planted by cutting off a bit of an existing Vanilla plant and placing it under the earth, and Attaching it to a pole or tree. It grows best under a small canopy.
Once the flower has blossomed, each vanilla flower must be hand pollinated with a needle. This hand pollination has to be done within a one week window, otherwise the flower will wilt and it will not produce a bean. Each flower produces one bean.
It takes a minimum of 9 months for the vanilla bean to reach maturity..
86% of Vanilla exports depart from Sambava and Antalaha
Vanilla Curing Process
May
Green Vanilla beans are picked from the vine.
Vanilla is then sorted for Foreign material.
Kill Step: Vanilla is dipped into hot water which begins the enzyme process and allows the flavor to conceptualize.
June-Nov
Vanilla is repeatedly sundried, sorted, graded and then dried indoors on racks.
Nov-Dec
Gourmet Grade is cured with special care: each Gourmet vanilla bean
must be touched by hand: to evenly distribute the oil throughout the bean.
This is called Triage.
Green Vanilla Beans
June
We travel to Madagascar to see and inspect the Green beans prior to picking them off the vine. Once they are purchased, there is a 12 hour ride down Red Road. Each truck carries 1 metric ton. Over 200 metric tons of Vanilla is collected and transported. All our Green Vanilla is hand collected by traditional methods established by the Malagasy people over 300 years ago. All of our Sapna Foods employees on the Āround are of Malagasy descent and they’re citizens of Madagascar
Kill Step
June-July
There is a three day window After the Vanilla beans are picked to start this process. The Vanilla beans are all dipped into a vat of 170 Degree water. This stops the Growing of the bean and starts the production of Vanillin. This process converts glucovanillin to vanillin.
Sun Drying & Curing
June-November
Once the aroma starts to develop, the sun drying process Begins.
The beans are laid out flat outside under the sun, switching From sun to shade to ensure proper moisture content. This is Carefully monitored during these months because if the beans become too dry, it will destroy the vanillin and the beans will become flavorless and useless.
Vanilla Extraction Process
The Vanilla is imported to Atlanta and brought into our facility for further Grading and sorting.
The Vanilla is prepared and put into the extraction tanks. We extract the vanilla in a liquid bath sonication with a slightly warm heating element. There is a continuous & constant agitation, to ensure the highest quality flavor.
Once the extraction process is done, we bottle the Vanilla per client requests.
Bottling
Our fully automated production lines are capable of bottling 48 bottles of premium vanilla per minute, allowing us to produce over 20,000 units of vanilla per eight hour shift with exceptional efficiency.
Co-Packing
We have the flexibility and expertise to produce any of our items, in any packaging with any label. Whether you’re looking for custom-designed packaging, Matching your current label, branded labels, or custom blends we can accommodate your requirements and ensure that the final product meets your standards.
Our Goal is to act as an extension of your operation, seamlessly integrating into your existing processes.
We are committed to providing flexible solutions and Improving your operational efficiency.
Since 2019, we have strategically identified Costco as a key partner. Over the years, we’ve expanded our operations, Including moving into a new facility, which has significantly increased our capacity to better serve a partner like Costco.
