REFINING
Scalding Green Vanillas
Steaming Vanillas after scalding
Natural drying in the open air under the trade winds of the Indian Ocean and under the tropical sun
The six-step ripening process will allow us to transform the green pods into Vanille LAVANY refined according to four categories:
GOURMET black, brown or TK, red and cut.
These Vanillas are also marketed under the name Bourbon Vanilla from Madagascar.
- Scalding Within 48 hours of harvesting, the green spice is dipped once in temperature-controlled hot water for a few Moments. This operation stops the plant life of the pod in its tracks.
- parboiling after draining, the pods wrapped in covers called "gony" are placed in a wooden oven. For about 48 hours, the Vanilla cooled to room temperature. The pod begins to take on its characteristic chocolate brown colour.
- air drying - the spread pods dry naturally in the sun and in the Indian Ocean trade winds. To avoid any fermentation, they are regularly and frequently ventilated by hand. The pods take on an increasingly brown color as they dissect, sometimes covering themselves with a shiny frost.
A significant skilled labor is required to properly perform this long operation, because the drying is spread over several weeks and is totally dependent on the sunshine. At night, the Vanilla is stored away from humidity.
During this completely traditional, non-mechanized process, the harvest reduces by 75%, and as we practice it, the natural dehydration of the Vanille LAVANY is the essential and most delicate step in all the processing of the bean. This is the one and only guarantee of its olfactory, aromatic and taste qualities as well as its ability to keep for several years. - tailor-made - we are able to prepare Vanilla according to the specific requirements of Professionals: humidity, length, concentration.
Wooden trunks for storing Vanillas
Measuring Vanilla pods
Our ancestral know-how in vanilla guarantees the constant quality of our pods throughout the year. We master the four professions of the Vanilla sector: Planter, Refiner, Exporter and Distributor.
- putting in a wooden trunk - the pods are stored for several months in parchment paper. The perfume appearing late, it is refined during this period. The trunks continue to leak water. They are checked weekly, and moldy pods are removed.
- the calibration - supple to the point, the aroma perfectly developed, the pods of Vanille LAVANY are sorted, measured, calibrated according to their quality. They are tied in the middle in bundles of the same length with a single strand of raffia.
- the packaging - after a final quality control, the perfectly formed boots are traditionally wrapped in parchment paper, stored in cardboard boxes, for storage and transport.
- Analysis - for each harvest, before placing it on the market, we check various parameters through analyzes at approved laboratories: determination of the rate of Vanillin and control of microbiology.
The complete production cycle of Vanille LAVANY from hand pollination of the flower to shipping by air is a minimum of fifteen months.
DISTRIBUTION
Grading of aged Vanillas
Vanille LAVANY prepared to measure
25 kg cardboard boxes of Vanille LAVANY ready to export
Air Madagascar the carrier of Vanillas LAVANY
Malagasy Vanilla must contribute fully to the economic development of Madagascar.
The Malagasy government, associated with professionals in the Vanilla sector, decides on the authorized date for the start of export of the last harvest in order to guarantee the quality of the preparation of Vanillas Malagasy; February 2024 for the 2023 harvest.
Vanille LAVANY markets only Planifolia Andrews Vanillas from our plantations in Madagascar.
We do not sell any other Vanilla Planifolia Andrews grown in other parts of the World...
That's why we guarantee the traceability of Vanille LAVANY Bourbon with single provenance from Madagascar
" From grower to consumer without intermediary"
- Export - Ready Vanillas are exported according to Malagasy regulations in standardized cardboard by plane and stored in our premises in ALBI - France.
- the distribution - before each delivery, the Vanilla pods LAVANY are checked one by one and they are packaged according to Customers' needs, vacuum-packed in transparent food-grade sachets per 250 grams or in blister packs per 2 or 10 pods in glass tube with hermetic closure for retail sale.
All facilities managed by the RANJA Family in Madagascar and by Vanille LAVANY in France are certified for three years AB - Organic Farming by 