Product Review

All beans in this Assortment are grown in Madagascar.

Here's what you get (all beans are 5 to 6 inches):

- 10 Grade A Prime Gourmet Bourbon Planifolia Vanilla Beans
- 10 Extract Grade B Bourbon Planifolia Vanilla Beans
- 10 Near Gourmet Grade Split Bourbon Planifolia Vanilla Beans
- 10 Extract Grade B Split Bourbon Planifolia Vanilla Beans

"Splits" are often preferred by large producers of vanilla extract because they usually have a higher vanillin content. Splitting can occur during growing or curing. They are not "used" beans. Non-split beans are known as whole beans.

Gourmet beans are excellent for cooking or making vanilla extract, extract grade beans should be used for making vanilla extract.

Our beans are traditionally cured over several months to ensure that the full flavor of the vanilla bean is developed. We do not sell quick cured vanilla beans where the beans are cured in 7 to 10 days.

These vanilla beans are triple inspected. The first inspection takes place during packing and is for smell, appearance, and mold. The next inspection takes place during vacuum sealing and is for mold and appearance. The final inspection takes place before shipment to ensure that the vacuum seal is intact and that there is no mold.

Some facts about vanilla beans:

- Bourbon refers to the formerly named Bourbon Islands (now Reunion) off of Madagascar. Bourbon alcohol is not used in vanilla beans.
- Vanilla beans orginated in Mexico and must be hand pollinated outside of Mexico because the pollinator, the Melipona bee, cannot survive outside of Mexico.
- There are over 200 organic compounds in vanilla. Artificial vanilla (vanillin) cannot capture the complexity of natural vanilla.