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My 4-year old vine produces a few vanilla beans for the first time. I do some searching for info on the internet, but would like to hear from other punawebbers who have experiences with the process.
Would you mind sharing your knowledge, like when it can be collected, and how to do with it to get the end products?
Mahalo.
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Aloha Iju,
I just bought a place that came with a huge vanilla vine, so I've been learning all about the vanilla process myself. My vine is just about done flowering, now I just have to wait for them to mature.
I have found this by agroforestry.net to be a great resource for vanilla
http://www.agroforestry.net/scps/Vanilla...y_crop.pdf
From what I understand it can take 7 months before they are ready to be picked. Just when they start to turn yellow, they are ready. Then they must be cured, sweated, dried, and conditioned. From the first blossom to the end product takes about a year or more for the highest quality of beans. No wonder vanilla is the second most expensive spice in the world!
Couple of questions while this thread is up.
1. What is the best medium to plant the cuttings in? Orchid bark like regular orchids or cinder/soil?
2. Do they prefer partial shade or full shade?
Stuck a couple of cuttings underneath my orange tree and they don't seem to be very happy.
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Thank you very much for the link, shave_ice. It has helpful info that I can use.
Taropatch, I planted it in cinder under the big mango tree. So in my case it is too much shade. I've just read/heard it somewhere recently that you can just attach the cuttings to the tree trunk, just like any orchids.
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Youtube is a good source of instructional videos on vanilla. In fact, it is a good source for any agricultural project you might have in mind from milking goats and "processing" chickens to planting fruit trees and making compost.
-Veritas odium parit”(Terence 195–159 BC))-"Truth begets hatred".
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Vanilla doesn't do well with too much shade, and needs quite a bit of sun in the spring (commercial plantations cut the overstory back at that time of year). And it grows best if the roots can get into the ground.
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take the tour at Hawaiian Vanilla Co. up in Hamakua, they will show you everything from how to pollinating the orchid flower with your pinky, to what to grow them in, and how to get the most extract from your bean you can (ie with vodka and decanting it up to 13 times into another bottle, etc.
Not easy to grow, thats why its the 2nd most expensive spice...
http://www.hawaiianvanilla.com/
save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
