Taste and flavour

Vanilla has a unique, warm and flowery scent and a wonderfully sweet and creamy flavour. It is ideal for aromatising sweet and savoury dishes.

Advice for use

– With its sweetness, vanilla pod give flavour to creams, yogurt, ricotta, fruit desserts, chocolate, ice cream, cold jellies, chocolate candies, sweets and drinks such as hot chocolate, coffee or tea.
– When used moderately, vanilla perfectly highlights the flavour of seafood, noble fish, poultry, veal or vegetables such as asparagus, artichokes, broccoli, kale and carrots.
– For aromatising sweets, the vanilla pods should be cut lengthwise and then boiled with milk or cream. After cooling, the pods can be removed, rinsed, dried and reused.

Origin and history

The price of vanilla is high because of its complex breeding, hand picking and long processing.
The plant blooms for several months a year, at different times depending on varieties, and the flowers must be pollinated manually. Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia) is a fruit in the form of the pod of a tropical orchid. This perennial evergreen climbing plant climbs like a liana to a height of 20 m. The vanilla habitat stretches from south-east Mexico to the northern parts of South America. Today, it is mainly grown in these areas: Madagascar, Comoros, Réunion, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mexico and Mauritius.