The conditioned beans have developed full flavor, and look black and slick with a very light coating of natural oils. Beans are often shipped at this stage before conditioning is complete because this is the bean’s final form of storage. They are placed in closed boxes lined with wax paper and kept there for at least a month. Stage 4: Conditioningīy now, the beans are exploding with aroma and flavor, and almost ready. Drying usually lasts for 3 to 4 weeks, with a goal of 25-30 percent moisture content. Workers massage each bean by hand to make sure the drying is occurring evenly. The beans are closely monitored and constantly sorted by moisture content. Too much sun can over-dry the beans and destroy vanillin, leaving brittle, useless sticks. They are laid in the open air, alternating between sun and shade, driving out moisture. Drying is essential to enabling international shipment, because wet beans will mold in transit. Once the beans begin to develop aroma and reach the correct moisture, the drying stage begins. This rolling and unrolling continues for up to two months. Daily sun exposure is paramount to the flavor transformation and the prevention of mold on vanilla beans. As the beans reach a more ideal moisture content, they will be left in the sun open to the air during the day and rolled up at night. Curers combat cooling by laying the rolls in the sun and returning them to their container when clouds and rain threaten. Because vanilla is cured during the rainy season, this presents a tricky problem. Any cooling can trigger mold, vanilla’s arch enemy. The beans remain tightly wrapped for up to two weeks, during which it is imperative to keep them warm. These trigger the enzymes that convert cellulose and starches to vanillin and other complex components that give vanilla its beautifully subtle aroma. Speed is essential to preserve heat and steam. This converts glucovanillin to vanillin: Stage 2: SweatingĪs soon as the beans are pulled from the water, workers rush to wrap them tightly in wool blankets, storing them inside a dark, airtight container. Dipping is performed by a master curer who calculates these variables by feel.ĭipping “kills” the bean, stopping growth and releasing the enzymes that begin production of vanillin, the bean’s primary flavor component. Timing depends on the size of the beans, whether they have split on the vine, and water temperature. No more than three days after harvest, the beans are plunged into water heated to 150-170 degrees Fahrenheit from 10 seconds to three minutes. Once ripe, the four stages of curing can begin. Curing an unripe bean preserves only a sour and bitter fruit. Interrupting this process arrests flavor development. Chlorophyll breaks down, and the fruit begins to yellow. Ripening occurs when temperature and humidity changes trigger the bean’s enzymes to convert starches and pectin to sugars. Yet without natural ripening, a bean cannot become vanilla. The temptation to pick beans too soon can be overpowering. And after nine months of backbreaking toil, farmers are often cash-poor and need to put food on the table. Farmers face dire risk of theft every moment the beans stay outside. And never more so than in today’s market, where a kilo of beans can equal a year’s wages for workers in the countries where it grows. That’s vanilla for you, the diva of the food world. Lose your love when you say the word mine.” Handful of thorns and you’ll know you’ve missed it. “Love is a rose but you better not pick it. Like berries and many fruits, vanilla stops ripening the moment it is picked. At that moment of harvest, the vanilla bean begins a fraught and arduous four-month metamorphosis.įew ingredients in the food world match this journey.īefore we start, a warning. They start out green, their tips yellowing as they ripen and loosen their grip on the mother plant. Vanilla beans don’t come off the vine black and shiny as we know and love them.
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