A few weeks ago, when I was in the vanillery doing a general prune, I came across several seedling deep under a dense section of vines. I took note of the location with the intention of moving the seedlings to pots so they can get a bit bigger before I plant them out in the new vanillery.
Full Article…A show about the Vanillery is being broadcast on the Kauai Visitor Channel
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Lisa and I spent a good part of the morning out in the vanillery pollinating the flowers. We’ve been out there every morning for several weeks already, but today was different. It seemed like the entire place was ablaze with the pale blossoms: everywhere you looked, flowers beckoned as if to say “come taste my sweet nectar” but of course, we were not there for that. Pollinating a vanilla flower takes delicacy, a steady hand and a familiarity with the anatomy of the orchid’s bloom. After a while, you can do it quickly, which is good, because there are several hundred of them ready to go today. There’s no waiting for these flowers, they’ll be closed for business by noon…it’s like… (read)
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Out in the vanillery, we’re starting to see the fresh flower buds emerging on the mature vines. Always an exciting time of the year as we anticipate the beginning of a new cycle. These little guys will be sprouting flowers in a couple of weeks!
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The cycle begins anew! This week we pulled our first harvest out of the vanillery, officially starting the 2021 harvest season. This year is slightly later than most , typically we see our first harvest in the first week or two of January. The harvest season typically goes until late April, so it’s a full 4 months of going into the vanillery to harvest 3 times a week. This year we are expecting a smaller harvest than last year. There were not as many flowers…not sure why but the crowding in the vanillery could be one factor.
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There’s a new flavor of macadamia nut butter out by Tiny Isle: Honey Vanilla. And of course, it features our own vanilla. This premium nut butter blends fresh toasted mac nut butter with a little honey and Vanillery of Kauai vanilla extract.
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We’ve been working on getting this new vanillery (located on the northwest corner of our property) built for a couple of years now. This bit of land was not in use, and several very large “weed” trees were in the way and needed to be removed. No point in planting under a tree you’re going to cut down, so we had to wait until we had the help we needed to get the trees down. The story of getting rid of those trees is long and convoluted, it took several tries to get the job done…but thanks to lots of able help (mahalo: Jonathan, Tim, Christopher, Freddy) and sheer perseverance, we got it done. Once the trees were cleared, we needed… (read)
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Enjoy a calming video of vanilla flowers getting pollinated. Video by Jaime MacIntosh.
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This article is an addition to the 2‑part How to Cure Vanilla Beans article. A critical stage in the curing of vanilla is the “sweat,” where the enzymatic process that develops the vanillin takes place. The sweat box creates an environment that holds the beans at the optimal temperature for this process. In the How to Cure Vanilla Beans article, I describe how to put together an ad hoc sweat box using a cooler and hot water bottles. In this article, I will describe how I built the electrically heated sweat box used to handle larger quantities of vanilla pods.
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