Vanilla Heaven

I recently had the pleasure to receive notice from Mr. Agas Ramada Setiadi about what looks like vanilla heaven: his organic vanilla plantation in Java. His web site is truly wonderful - but see below for ordering in USA-showing his healthy looking farm, organized and clean facilities, beautifully photographed products and processing steps, and historical, botanic, and culinary information about vanilla. I can smell vanilla just by visiting his site and am very excited to try his product, which I just ordered. Best of all it is FAIR TRADE! My favorite lines from his site are these: "Vanilla is the underwear of the baking world; it makes everything look good and plays well in the sandbox with others." since I would never have connected underwear with vanilla. But this makes sense, because I can add vanilla to - for example - cut strawberries with a bit of
sugar and the aroma of the berries and that of the vanilla do some behind the scenes magic.


   I have received the Vanilla in the mail and can report that it rises to the level of being an elegant gift for a birthday or other event, besides being in the class of highest quality ingredients that I use for my cakes. The service is also impeccable. Very important to note that one must order it from Indri Vanilla, run by Chef Whitney Olsen of Tempe Arizona, if you are shipping inside the U.S.A. 

Agas even has instructions for producing an extract using apple cider rather than alcohol, to conform with Muslim dietary practices. Plus, he has links to a YouTube video showing vanilla orchids being hand pollinated, recipes and tips- such as how to make your own vanilla coffee, and most important: how to HOW GO TO BANDUNG via Air Asia and driving instructions to his planation. I have an urge to buy a lottery ticket at this moment. Sigh. 

For now I will be content with the small piece of heaven represented by his vanilla shipped to me.

I descend from bakers via both parents so perhaps this accounts for what some see as my fanatical enthusiasm for vanilla (and cacao, and butter, yeast breads rising...). But no matter, I am so glad to share devotional interest in this vine with so many people, past and present. The Totonac people, of Mazatlan Valley on the Gulf Coast of Mexico first cultivated vanilla for medicinal use. According to Totonac mythology, the tropical orchid was born when Princess Xanat, forbidden by her father from marrying a mortal man, fled to the forest with her lover. The lovers were captured and beheaded. Vanilla vines grew on the spot their blood touched the ground. Conquered by the Aztecs- who apparently began culinary use of vanilla, the Totonacs paid tribute by sending vanilla beans to the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan. Xanat translates roughly as nectar of the gods, and the twisting vines evocative of an embrace, perhaps. It seems completely unsurprising that a passionate and divine origin is ascribed to vanilla.

In his book, Vanilla Orchids: Natural History and Cultivation, Ken Cameron provides more botanical history, molecular analysis, and instructions for producing vanilla at home. Vanilla vines under cultivation must be checked each day for flowers in order to hand pollinate each one - since only in certain small areas of Mexico does a specific species of bee exist with a natural ability to pollinate the orchid and create the fruit. The drying and other handling of vanilla is likewise an exacting labor of love - making the high price understandable.

Rachel