Vanilla in present days

Vanilla beans are grown in four main areas of the world. Each region produces vanilla beans with distinctive characteristics and attributes.

• Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa, is the largest producer of vanilla beans in the world. The term Bourbon applies to beans grown on the Bourbon Islands - Madagascar, Comoro, Seychelle and Reunion. There is no connection with the liquor produced in Kentucky in the United States. Madagascar Bourbon vanilla is considered to be the highest quality pure vanilla available, described as having a creamy, sweet, smooth, mellow flavor.
• Uganda is in the east Africa and producing excellent Bourbon quality of Vanilla Beans.
• Indonesian Vanilla is woody, astringent and phenolic.
• Mexico, where the vanilla orchid originated, now produces only a small percentage of the harvest. Mexican vanilla is described as creamy, sweet, smooth and spicy.
• One of the major vanilla-producing regions is Tahiti. Tahitian vanilla, grown from a different genus of vanilla orchid, is flowery, fruity, and smooth.

Vanilla and Quality

Vanilla, though often thought of as simple, is anything but. Using the proper vanilla, or vanilla blend, for the proper application is an important part of a successful product. Each vanilla has distinct properties which function in different ways depending on the ingredients used and the type of application. Critical to the choice of vanilla for a product is the application for which it is needed.

Vanilla pods are cured for vanillin (responsible for vanilla's distinctive flavor). The curing facilitates the enzymatic process that transforms glucovanillin into vanillin. Processing involves the keeping the pods warm and slowly drying them over a period of time until they become deep brown, with a fine white crystalline coating of vanillin.