Vanilla

The name Vanilla came from the Spanish word "vainilla", meaning "little pod".

Our vanilla is grown by small-scale farmers of Uganda in the remote parts of country on very fertile soil of rain forests.The beauty of vanilla growing is that it does not require any chemical and it is 100% organic.

Our vanilla pods are harvested while green but mature. At this stage, they are odourless. To prevent rotting and to lock the aroma in the pods, the pods are dried. Often, pods are laid out in the sun during the mornings and returned to their boxes in the afternoons. When 25-30% of moisture is left in the pods they have completed the curing process and will exhibit their fullest aromatic qualities. Once fully cured, the vanilla is sorted by quality and graded according to size.

Vanilla flavouring in food may be achieved by cooking vanilla pods in the liquid preparation. A stronger aroma may be attained if the pods are split in two, exposing more of the pod's surface area to the liquid. In this case, the pods' seeds are mixed into the preparation. Natural vanilla gives a brown or yellow colour to preparations, depending on the concentration.

Vanilla is available in following grades

• Gourmet grade - Dark blackish brown pods with moisture between 28 to 33%. Length 12 to 18 cm.
• Extraction grade - Brownish pods with < 17% moisture ( extraction include splits and short beans)