Mastodawn

It's vanilla bean harvest day! After growing vanilla vines in various places for various years and finally getting some flowers in a place I could reach (as opposed to high up in a tree), then hand-pollinating them with the right technique, then waiting for the pods to reach full size over a couple months, then letting the pods ripen on the vine for 9 months, they're finally ready to harvest!

I'll be using this thread to track the rest of the process.

So, how did I know when to harvest? According to this blog post: https://vanillery.com/ripe-green-vanilla-pods/ they are ready to harvest when the bottoms are yellow and just starting to crack. I've included pics below showing my pods this morning when I decided to harvest.

Pic 1: yellow on the bottom
Pic 2: yellow on bottom and just starting to split
Pic 3: further splitting, with seeds visible inside. I smelled this one at the place where it was opening, and it smelled fantastic - like vanilla.

Next steps described in next posts...

1/

#vanilla #orchids #plants #hawaii #food

The first step in vanilla pod processing is to "kill" the bean via boiling or freezing.

I don't have a freezer, so I decided to submerge in boiled water for 3-5 mins.

Instructions here: https://www.vanillapura.com/blogs/vanilla-extract-making-101/how-to-cure-vanilla-beans-at-home-a-step-by-step-guide
And here: https://www.kingson-foodtech.com/en/a4-11232-16797/The-Journey-of-Vanilla-Beans-Vanilla-Bean-Processing.html

Pic 1: beans in boiled water (not on the flame - just in water that I boiled).
Pic 2: after boiling, I laid them out and dried them with a towel.

2/

#vanilla #plants #food #hawaii #orchids

After patting the vanilla pods dry, I wrapped them in towels and packed them in an insulated cooler bag with a hot water bottle, wrapped in more towel.

This is the beginning of the "sweating" stage that lasts 10-14 days. They will spend evenings wrapped up with a hot water bottle in an insulated cooler bag, and they will spend daytime drying in the sun.

See process description here: https://www.kingson-foodtech.com/en/a4-11232-16797/The-Journey-of-Vanilla-Beans-Vanilla-Bean-Processing.html
And here: https://www.vanillapura.com/blogs/vanilla-extract-making-101/how-to-cure-vanilla-beans-at-home-a-step-by-step-guide

Pic 1: I wrapped the pods in their little towels, then packed them in an insulated cooler bag that was lined with a big folded towel.
Pic 2: I put a hot water bottle on top, wrapped it all up in the big towel, and zipped up the cooler bag.

They will stay like this till tomorrow (I'll keep an eye on the water bottle and refill with hot water as necessary), then will set to sun dry during the daytime tomorrow.

3/

#vanilla #orchids #plants #food #hawaii

Next step on the vanilla journey: 10-14 days of "sun drying during the day and sweating with the hot water bottle in an insulated cooler bag at night."

After yesterday spent in the cooler bag, today is the first day of sun-drying (as shown below).

The air smells like vanilla 🥰

4/

#vanilla #food #plants #gardening #hawaii

Today's vanilla bean "sunning". It was overcast, but I still brought them out of their sweat to air out and get some light.

They're now back in their cozy cooler bag with a fresh hot water bottle.

And I just realized that as I was writing this post, I'm listening to a group called "vanilla": https://youtu.be/WPgImQNv8CM

5/

#vanilla #food #orchids #gardening #hawaii

Noli timere 2d ago

@mk30 The intricacy of this process! Really makes one wonder how it came to be developed… “Oh yes, I’ve got a spare hot water bottle here. Obviously I should leave the beans to sweat on it all night, every night, for for two weeks” 😝

@nolitimere I too wonder this!!!!

@nolitimere so I think that part of the length of the process is to let flavors fully develop. I suspect that it still has flavor after less-intense processing.

When I harvested them yesterday, one had split open quite a bit, and I could already smell vanilla from inside. So one possible way this could have developed is: imagine no one uses the vine, it's just a plant growing in its native place with its native pollinator. Flower gets pollinated, bean develops naturally, starts to split, then maybe falls on the ground and starts to ferment. During the day, it naturally gets exposed to sun, at night it stays warm and wet in the jungle air. Tasty smells waft from it, attracting humans. (Because right now, as they're drying in the sun, the air around them smells great.) So maybe this process is based off something like that...I really don't know.

Cacao is also complicated! Let the beans ferment with the pulp for 10 days (that makes sense, because that could normally happen, if the pod falls and splits, for example). BUT, from what I've seen with neglected trees, the pods fall, stay intact (the shells are quite hard), then the beans inside just rot, then dry, then turn to dust. If you don't crack the pod and remove the beans with the pulp, the seeds are unusable. So ok you ferment them, then dry them for a while, then slowly roast them on a dry pan? Whose idea was it to roast these rotten beans? 😅

Noli timere 2d ago

@mk30 Yes, I suspect that the process was developed in stages, where some kind of mishap or accident happened during the last step of the process at that point and the people noticed that hey, this actually makes it taste even better.

@nolitimere also, cacao seeds and pulp can be eaten raw. They're not particularly tasty to just eat, but you can throw the whole inside of a cacao pod (pulp and seeds) into the blender with a smoothie and it's good. You can also put it through a food processor and use it in baked goods. It's not a full "chocolate" flavor, but it is tasty and also gives you a big boost of energy!

TooTired 2d ago

@mk30 thank you for sharing this process! I visited a vanilla farm in Taha’a once and learned about the process. I’ve always wanted to try to grow but don’t live in the right climate. Good job!

dasgrueneblatt 3d ago

@mk30 Wow, that's cool! Do they smell like vanilla at this stage?

@dasgrueneblatt the pod that was open at the bottom, i smelled the open area and it smelled like vanilla. but when the pods are closed, they don't smell like anything.

dasgrueneblatt 3d ago

@mk30 so interesting, thank you 💚🌱

Catherine is not complacent 3d ago

@mk30 that’s amazing, what is your grow zone?
I am also a tad jealous.

@CatDragon I'm on the east side of Hawai'i Island in a tropical wet zone.

Catherine is not complacent 2d ago

@mk30 hi from Maine. Definitely not tropical.

BlueDot 11h ago

@CatDragon @mk30

I looked it up. Zone 10. So jealous.

@BlueDot @CatDragon it's great for growing tropical foods, but i haven't eaten a peach, nectarine, or cherry in ages. we also can't really grow cucumbers, lettuce, onions, or garlic without a special setup. plus, we have angiostrongylus on the island, so even if we grow lettuce, we can't really eat it raw because there might be tiny angiostrongylus-carrying slugs in it. every place has tradeoffs.

@mk30 @CatDragon

Angiostrongylus would cramp my lifestyle for sure.

@BlueDot @CatDragon yea, we basically can't eat anything raw unless it has a peel/shell and we eat the inside. luckily many tropical fruits do have shells/peels: passionfruit, banana, pineapple, papaya, citrus, etc.

@mk30 given all the effort put into them it become honestly incredible that you can buy them for like three euros per bean

@zuthal it's true 😔

T. J. Bombadil 3d ago

@mk30 Holy cow, I learned a lot from this thread.