Mexican vanilla beans

NOROHY Mexican vanilla beans are designed for gastronomy. Their aromatic profile makes them ideal for pastries, ice cream and chocolate. The woody notes of prune and cocoa blend divinely with chocolate!

Flavor your recipes with one or two Mexican vanilla beans per kilo of preparation. Then, to each his own. Some prefer to split the bean, then scrape and infuse it… Others opt to cut it into sections… Finally, the most patient wash the beans after a first use to give them a second life: vanilla powder or paste according to your desires… It’s up to you to make the most of these gourmet notes… right down to the last seed!

A country with a thousand and one facets, famous for its age-old vestiges, colorful culture and heavenly landscapes, Mexico is also the historic birthplace of vanilla! The Totonaque people, living in the coastal regions of the Gulf of Mexico, are notably responsible for the discovery and cultivation of this very special orchid. They called it “caxixanath”, which means “hidden flower”. Highly prized for its medicinal virtues and aromatic power, legend has it that the Aztecs also used vanilla beans to sweeten the bitterness of their cocoa drinks.
Today, the Papantla region in the state of Veracruz is Mexico’s main vanilla-growing area. Its warm yet humid climate provides optimal conditions for the cultivation of a rare vanilla with a complex aromatic profile.
Mexico is also the only place in the world where the Euglossa bee naturally pollinates the vanilla flower. In some hard-to-reach regions, only certain pollinating insects are able to fertilize and multiply the plant.

While the Euglossa bee pollinates the flowers naturally, “marieuses” take care of fertilizing them by hand. As a result, growers have greater control over bean production and quality. However, flowering lasts only one morning. The flowers must therefore be married every day. Their blossoming is then triggered by light and water stress. To achieve this, the grower removes the plant’s shade in the middle of a drought. The first corollas appear three months later. Nearly 9 months after pollination, the bean at the base of the flower is ripe and ready to be harvested. Its green color is then slightly tinted with yellow.

Quality Mexican vanilla is the result of long and hard work… After harvesting, the beans are traditionally refined. Each stage is carried out by hand, without mechanization. The vanilla is then scalded at 70°C for 2 to 3 minutes to initiate vegetative arrest. The beans are then steamed for 48 hours to allow the vanillin to develop. They are then dried in the shade and then in the sun for 1 to 2 months! Finally, the vanilla beans are matured for 4 to 5 months in padded trunks to develop their precious secondary aromas… Ready to be tasted, the beans are finally sorted, measured and classified before being packaged and shipped.
The preparation of a Mexican vanilla bean takes more than 6 months, during which one manual operation follows another. This work requires traditional know-how and a great deal of patience.

Black Mexican vanilla or gourmet vanilla refers to fleshy, glossy black beans. These soft beans have a moisture content of 32-38%. This is due in part to the fact that only a few flowers on the same branch are fertilized. This ensures that the beans receive the nutrients they need to develop properly. Late-harvested beans split on the plant: this is known as split black vanilla. These beans are highly sought-after for their higher vanillin content, due to over-ripening.

Red vanilla is also known as extraction-grade vanilla. Its beans, with their heterogeneous color, are less intense. Their moisture content is also lower, between 20 and 27%. They are also smaller in size. These Mexican vanilla beans are used in the manufacture of vanilla-derived products. These include vanilla extract, vanilla bean powder and vanilla bean paste.