Vanilla
InnoMark, Inc. joined forces with TIE a company founded
20 years ago in Tahiti. Its core activities have always
been deeply linked with the manufacturing of 100% natural
products from Tahiti.
To start with, the company acquired a solid reputation
in the natural vanilla market by exporting Vanilla Tahitensis
beans, the vanilla that grows uniquely in Tahiti and is
the most renowned among specialists.
TIE quickly developed more abilities and soon installed
a large production facility in Papeete for Vanilla and
the famous Tahitian Noni Juice, all 100% made in Tahiti.
InnoMark, Inc. joined with TIE and now manufactures and
distributes under the registered brand name “Natural
Styles” the highest quality Premium Tahitian,
Bourbon, and Mexican Vanilla extracts on the market today.
All Vanilla Extract produced are independently tested and
verified as premium FDA single or double strength by the
prestigious Krueger Labs located in Cambridge, MA. Keep
checking this website for more exiting innovative Vanilla
products coming soon.
We currently ship our premium Registered Brand Name “Natural
Styles” Vanilla Extracts as well as bulk vanilla
extracts anywhere in the world from our corporate headquarters
located at our St. George, Utah distribution facility.
Vanilla Facts: No flavor is more romantic
than the one vanilla — sweet, floral intoxicating,
poetically perfect for the fruit of a tropical orchid whose
pale primrose-colored flowers must be pollinated by hand
within a few hours after their blossoming. Indeed, few
gems are more romantic than those produced by the sudden
blooming of Tahitian vanilla, a botanically distinct variety
that is both more delicate and fragrant than the far more
common vanilla from Madagascar.
Vanilla came originally from Central America. The conquistadors
found Montezuma while drinking some vanilla-flavored chocolate
and decided to send both chocolate and vanilla to their
homeland. The Colonial Powers eventually established several
plantations all over the East and West Indies, as well
as in Africa and the Far East. Nevertheless this industry
flourished only in Tahiti, and contributed to make this
island very famous.
Vanilla beans are the pods of an orchid called Vanilla
planifolia, which is one of the thousands varieties of
orchids. (The name Vanilla is sometimes used to refer to "the
orchid of flavors.") Vanillin is the component responsible
for its fragrance and taste; it should not be confused
with the chemically synthesized substitute with the same
name. (Natural vanillin can be also found in asparagus,
asafetida and wild roses.) Because vanillin appears as
a powdery substance when the beans are cured, there is
some debate over whether vanilla is a true spice, derived
from a seed, or an essential oil. Since vanilla is so widely
used to season and sweeten foods, we will not enter this
subject in this report—it can indeed be considered
a spice.
Like corn, tomatoes and chocolate, vanilla is native of
the Americas. In 1510, Montezuma served vanilla to Cortez
in a cup of hot chocolate. Its Aztec name was tlilxochitl
(tlil for black, xochitl for pod). Vanilla was soon exported
to Spain; it was there that it earned its name. Francisco
Hernandez, physician of Philip II of Spain, called the
black pods siliqua, which into Spanish was translated into "vanilla," the
diminutive of vaina, which means pod or shell.
Shortly after, vanilla was introduced to the court of
Queen Elizabeth I. Within a short time it was regularly
used regularly all over Europe to emphasize the taste of
chocolate—and tobacco.
Vanilla has been used over the years even with non-food
purposes.
From the XVI till the XIX century e.g. vanilla was thought
to have several medical powers; it was considered good
for almost everything: to help with digestion, to prevent
headaches but also to block the effect of poisons and bites.
A document from the early XIX century says that vanilla
was "effective in cases of exhaustion, dyspepsia,
melancholia, hypochondria, and very good for anemic women." Widely
considered an aphrodisiac, it was forbidden to young people
with "passionate, easily aroused temperaments." Monks
were occasionally forbidden to eat chocolate, because it
was frequently mixed with small pieces of vanilla.
Today, according to Bill Penzey who works for The Spice
House in Milwaukee, there are some very peculiar uses of
vanilla, like a sweet vanilla-scented liqueur from Mexico,
and some decorative figueros (small figures) made of vanilla
beans.
In the last few years another kind of vanilla has become
available: the Vanilla tahitensis from Tahiti. Its beans
are moist and fleshy, with a sweeter and flowery fragrance
compared to the more familiar Madagascar bean mentioned
above. They are perfect good for cooking.
Recently, additional new sources are being developed in
order to try to reduce the vanilla's high price.
Vanilla is expensive because its production requires an
intensive labor —and its price has rocketed even
higher in the last 2 years. Its vines grow in hot, humid
and tropical climates. If left by themselves, they would
become 350 feet tall trees. But the cultivated vines are
pruned regularly, or bent into loops to keep vanilla beans
within easy reach for the workers who pollinate them by
hand.
This process, developed in 1836, involves lifting the
rostellum, a flower protrusion, with a sharp bamboo stick
so that the pollen grains can be put from the male anther
onto the female stigma. Among almost 1000, only 50 out
of 60 blossoms of a healthy vine are pollinated. This job
is very tricky because each blossom lasts only one day,
and it must be pollinated during that same day or it will
be lost. Expert workers can pollinate up to 1,500 blossoms
in a single day.
Once fertilized, the pods mature between four and nine
months. They are picked just when their color turns from
green to yellow. At this stage, the beans look like thick
green beans about five/ten inches long. Since crops are
often stolen, many farmers mark their pods with pinpricks
according to a distinctive "brand" pattern.
Now the time-consuming fermentation or curing process
begins. The pods are dipped in hot water, dried under the
sun on wooden tables, and then wrapped in blankets to "sweat." This
process is repeated twice, and then beans are dried further
till they become brown, flattened and wrinkled. The entire
sequence can take up to six months, and in order to produce
one pound of dried beans of marketable quality are required
more or less five pounds of fresh green (unfermented) vanilla
pods. Then beans are sorted and graded according to strictly
defined categories, and the largest whole beans are considered
the finest.
The island of Tahiti in the South Pacific is only 35 miles
long. It is made of nearly two islands; each part
surrounds an extinct volcanic cone, and a short isthmus
connects the two. The orchid called Vanilla tahitensis
grows along its coasts and coastal valleys. This exceptional
variety produces part of the diminishing world crop
of vanilla beans. I’ve recently preferred the exceptionally
powerful, thoroughly delicate and slightly perfume of the
vanilla of Tahiti.
Most vanilla comes from Vanilla planifolia vines and most
of it is grown in Madagascar or in the Comoro Islands (not
far from Madagascar) or in La Reunion Island. I did not
decide to switch to the new type immediately. The common
bean has a rich flavor that I really like; and at first
I didn't realize how intense, penetrating and lasting the
Tahitian was, compared to the other vanilla. Last winter,
to be sure of my decision, I served ice creams with the
2 different vanillas together. The verdict of my dining
companions was that the regular vanilla flavor could not
be spotted once tasted the Tahitian vanilla ice cream.
Another time guests loved the new flavor, but couldn't
put a name to it; they did not imagine it was possible
to have more than one variety of vanilla.
The flavor of vanilla is a mixture of many chemical substances,
some of them not yet identified. The precise composition
changes according to the species and the place where the
orchid grows. The vanilla vine was taken from its native
Mexico and planted in a number of different locations around
the globe by colonial experimenters looking for a profitable
crop. Different strains well or poorly adapted to their
new situations and others diverged into separate species.
When cultivated each flower must be pollinated by hand
to produce its single pod. And after the harvest it takes
further labor and many months of care to develop the aroma
of the beans. Lack of labor caused the decline in production.
Some scientists are testing the aerobic hormone fertilization
and it is a hope the future production.
The bean of Vanilla tahitensis is wider than the others.
It is also bigger and fleshier because it is sold with
more moisture in it. Some past and present accounts consider
Mexican and La Reunion beans superior (Mexico is no longer
a significant source of vanilla though). I don't agree
and I'm not sure I can explain this discrepancy. If in
one hundred years of cultivation the Tahitian plants have
evolved because of the human selection, this could explain
the old references. And today essence-makers, who dominate
the market, prefer well-dried beans for their process.
Maybe they don't have a big motivation for asking other
qualities. It is possible that the Tahitian beans are treated
better and win by default. American restaurant cooks dedicated
themselves completely to these beans. The ones who set
culinary fashion are incorporating them in savory meat
dishes as well as desserts.
Use Tahitian vanilla in the usual ways — cut the
bean crosswise (when you need just half a bean) to reveal
the flavor and avoid flecking the preparation with the
minute black seeds; or if you want to have a stronger flavor,
split the bean lengthwise, scraping out the seeds and their
viscous marrow, and incorporating them directly into the
mix. Generally liquids must be strained to break up clumps
of seeds and remove small pieces of the internal gel once
it has given up its flavor. The scraped pods can be steeped
in a liquid or stored in sugar to make a mild vanilla sugar.
The gratification coming from smelling an open jar of beans
or of sugar alone justifies having these beans on your
kitchen shelf. (For a strong sugar take a whole bean, cut
it up, and thoroughly pulverize it in a food processor
with 2 cups of granulated sugar. Confectioner's shop sugar
is less successful because less abrasive. Afterwards it
must be filtered through a fine strainer. A half-and-half
mixture can be put in a food the processor and for it to
be sifted over cakes).
The ice recipe that follows shows an unadorned vanilla
flavor. The contrast would be perfect after a main course
like with sausages, but it can be also used to conclude
a lighter meal or simply please satisfy yourself and guest
after a hot afternoon. The white ice is prettily specked
with tiny seeds.
The history of the plants acclimatized by men cannot be
always accurately determined. The variety of Vanilla Planifolia
has been probably discovered at the end of the XVIII century
in Madagascar. If we believed in the rumors spread in the
botanic milieu, it would be a stolen and muted Mexican
variety, later on implanted on the island close to La Réunion
where men introduced three different stumps. At that time
the name of the island was Bourbon Island, in honor of
the French Royal Family. This happened in between 1819
and 1822. We will have to wait till 1841 before a young
slave of 12 years old, Albius, find a way to make these
vanilla plants fertile pollinating them by hand. Only a
Mexican bee, actually, can naturally fecundate the vanilla
flower. This was the beginning of a prosperous time with
one of the most important production of vanilla. This variety
represents today the main vanilla source of the whole world.
Today, the Bourbon Vanilla is cultivated both in the Antilles
and in the South and Central America. It is the most known
and used product in the food and cosmetic industry. Its
richness of vanillin and its long and thin beans, give
Bourbon vanilla a unique character.
A very important phase in the production of the Bourbon
Vanilla is the interruption of the bean vegetal life. In
order to do that, they are gathered and put in hot water
(60 / 65°C) for three minutes. Afterwards beans are
placed in wood boxes, covered with blankets and steamed.
Thanks to this process vanilla chills from 60°C to
room temperature. This last phase lasts more or less 12
hours till the beans get a nice brown color. Then there
is the drying phase. Beans are exposed to sunlight for
a week, from 3 to 5 hours per day. After the grading, and
having been bottled for 8 months they are finally refined.
The world production of vanilla is of more or less 1500
tons and the Bourbon Vanilla represents 1200 tons. Nowadays,
Madagascar is the world leader for the production of vanilla
(80% of the world production). Since 1964 there is a «Bourbon
Vanilla» brand label. It gathers the whole production
of the South West Indian Ocean, Madagascar, La Reunion,
Comoros and Seychelles.
Come to Tahiti and see at Tahitian Import Export (TIE)
huge where thousands of vanilla beans are being transformed
into vanilla extract. You will see the copper stills that
are used to separate the alcohol from water in the process
of making rum and other alcoholic beverages. Marc said
that he uses the best raw ingredients he can find. The
fermentation room for the alcohols is refrigerated and
the tanks are hermetically closed, while the yeast eats
the sugar molecules and the C02 is expelled through pipes.
The vast majority of vanilla, however, is sold as extract.
Vanilla beans arrive in this country in whole form, which
is the preference of many cooks. The extract is obtained
from the cured beans by hydroalcoholic extraction in much
the same way that coffee is percolated. Finely chopped
vanilla beans are enclosed in large stainless steel baskets
that are immersed in a warm alcohol and water mixture in
glass-lined or stainless steel percolators. The liquid
is piped in from the top of the vat and percolates down
through the beans, then it recirculates until the maximum
vanilla flavor has been drawn out.
Unlike coffee, the alcohol mixture never reaches the boiling
point, but is pumped through the beans at room or lukewarm
temperature. The freshly percolated extract is drawn off,
filtered, aged for about three weeks, and bottled. Since
batches of vanilla beans differ, each lot is tested and
standardized to ensure uniform quality.
Some extracts are now being made by a newer method involving
no heat. The vanilla beans are first pulverized and stirred
continuously by machine.
Distilled water is added later. Proponents of this method
claim that the lack of heat and alcohol provides a much
cleaner-tasting result.
Vanilla Extract
Obtained from the steeping of the beans inside alcohol,
this product is offered in 50 ml or 20 cl bottles. The
12% of the essence is vanilla, and it is extracted from
pure vanilla. It has a dark color, and it is concentrated.
It is used in very small quantities, to flavor creams and
desserts. It goes very well together with: milk, desserts,
yoghurts, ice creams, butter sauces, Creole punch, crème
brûlée.
Vanilla beans
It’s the manually dried and refined fruit, offered
as an entire pod. All the beans are offered inside
small glass tubes. The transparent wrapping permits to
verify the good quality of the pod, which must be supple,
filled and chocolate brown.
Vanilla Powder
This powder is obtained from dried or ground beans. It’s
mixed with sugar powder, a practical formula for the modern
cooking. It is used as adjuvant in order to flavor desserts,
creams, hot chocolate, cappuccino or even to make cakes.
Vanilla Cream
The taste of Paradise! Vanilla Cream is a remarkably silky
liqueur. This liqueur is obtained from real New Zealand
cream, Tahitian distilled, and Tahitian vanilla essence,
natural flavors and Tahitian coffee. It can be used cold
or on an ice cream. It’s excellent with some coffee
or your favorite cocktail liqueur.
Vanilla Tea
A flavored tea, with delicate scents, is delightful to
taste. This is an instant tea, you can directly pour into
scalding water.
Vanilla Coffee
Some vanilla powder is added to the green coffee roasted
in Tahiti; it exalts the aromas of an end product, offered
in bags of 250g.
Vanilla Soap
A vanilla perfumed natural soap. The sweet and sugared
fruit fragrances blend with the washing basis of soap offering
a healthy product perfect for your skin care.
If you have cooked only with the essence, using vanilla
in whole bean form will be a nice surprise—it is
richer and much more fragrant. The best way is to infuse
the bean in hot liquid. To make custard, split a whole
bean lengthwise and drop it into saucepan with milk.
Heat the milk until nearly boiling, then remove from heat.
Cover and let it chill for about an hour. The vanilla essence
will permeate the milk. For a stronger, scrape the small
seeds into the custard with a knife (if the mixture is
to be strained, add the vanilla seeds after straining).
The pod can be dried and used again.
Vanilla can be infused in sugar syrups, fruit poaching
liquids, syrups for fruit salads and liquid mixtures for
ice creams, mousses, frozen souffles and Bavarian creams.
The next time you want to preserve fruit, try tucking a
whole half of vanilla bean, together with a curl of lemon
peel, into each jar. In order to make nice homemade cordials,
such as plums or blackberries ones, don’t forget
to infuse a split bean of vanilla in vodka for about a
month and shake the bottle every day.
The beans can also add fragrance via non-liquid means.
Most of us are familiar with vanilla sugar, made by keeping
a vanilla bean (or the dried pod from which you have already
scraped the seeds) in a closed canister of sugar. This
can be really delicious if sprinkled over ripe berries
or other fresh fruits, or even used as an ingredient to
make tasty cakes, ice creams or anywhere a vanilla accent
is welcome (The luxurious aroma of real vanilla_—particularly
of the Tahitian beans—description.)
Have you ever tried vanilla and coffee? Break off a one-inch
length of bean and place it together with the ground coffee
seeds in a coffee filter. Purists might not agree, but
really it gives a subtle, intriguing touch. And if you
want to follow the early Mexican tradition: a hint of vanilla
is a pleasant change to make a hot chocolate, usually done
by infusing the bean in the hot milk before adding the
cocoa powder.
Try scraping the seeds from a short length of bean onto
some ricotta cheese, then whirl it in the blender with
some chopped bittersweet chocolate and spread it over some
fruit. Or for a quick compote, cook rhubarb or sliced plums
with a vanilla bean, brown sugar and a few rounds of fresh
ginger.
I am very fond of pound cake brightened with grated orange
skin and vanilla; just mix sugar, orange skin and the scraped
seeds of half a bean (lengthwise split) in the food processor.
The sugar acts as an abrasive, releasing the pungent fragrances
of both vanilla and orange.
Vanilla can be tucked in closed containers, where the
beans act almost as a "sachet" to perfume their
contents. Try this trick with a tin of moist prunes or
dried figs, for example.
Plump, aromatic, whole vanilla beans from Tahiti are the
latest news as regards vanilla, and they help us to remind
the difference between real and imitation flavors.
With so many newer flavors tempting us, vanilla may seem
a plain Jane choice. But it is not if you venture into
whole vanilla beans or fine quality essences. In order
to prove that, we made four versions, of standard sugar
cookies. One with Nie'sen-Massey vanilla essence, which
earned top scores in a 1984 Food Guide for its vanilla
essence tasting. Another with a whole Tahiti vanilla bean.
And the last one with Spice Islands' vanilla bean and a
vanilla bean purchased in bulk in the Treasure Island.
Cookies made with the whole vanilla beans scored better
than the one made with essence, and tasters found that
the Tahitian vanilla beans gave more aroma and a "caramel-like,
rich vanilla flavor" to the cookies. However, tasters
said that the differences between the whole vanilla beans
are not dramatic and they would not even be noticed if
the cookies were tasted in a side-by-side taste testing.
On the negative side, fresh vanilla beans leave little
black specks in the otherwise lightly-colored cookies,
and some tasters found it disagreeable. And the cost difference
is pretty high: Three dozen of cookies require only 1 teaspoon
of extract; the same amount requires a whole vanilla bean.
You can reduce that cost by using vanilla sugar instead
of a bean. Simply put a whole, split or ground vanilla
bean into a jar of granulated or confectioners' sugar.
Seal tightly and let the flavor blend for at least a week.
Sift or shake the contents once or twice during the week
in order to help the blending of the flavor. Use the sugar
according to the recipe, but eliminate vanilla.
Or, if using vanilla essence, use the tip of Nancy Silverton,
author of "Desserts" and pastry chef at Spago
in California, and simply double the amount of vanilla
essence demanded in your recipe.
"I've never had a problem with the extra liquid," Silverton
says, and the flavor is extremely intensified.
Vanilla comes from: the fruit of an orchid native of the
tropical America. "it is the most labor intensive
agricultural product in the whole world," writes Patricia
Rain in "Vanilla Cookbook" ."From planting
the vine to bottling the aged vanilla essence requires
a 5 years process, and each step of the process has to
be done by hand."
Even in its native habitat, vanilla was a rare and precious
commodity. Rain says. "Aztecs considered it a gift
from the gods and could afford to use it only during the
rituals of the Aztec nobility.
"In Madagascar, now the largest vanilla growing area
in the world, vanilla beans are still so valuable that
each bean is branded with the owner's special mark in order
to protect it from 'vanilla rustlers,' " Rain states.
However, the branding isn't done in Tahiti. "They
don't need to," says Marc Jones, co-owner of Tahitian
Imports, the largest exporter of Tahitian vanilla beans.
"The Tahitians are an unusually honest people." Actually
the very aromatic Tahitian beans come from a different
variety of orchid, says Peter Stone, Jones' business partner. "The
vine is a little greener, the leaves shorter, and the beans
are flatter and thicker."
Natural Styles Exotic Bourbon Vanilla is hand crafted
on the beautiful Island of Tahiti using only the finest
imported premium Bourbon Vanilla beans. Bourbon Vanilla
is used by the world’s top chefs to enhance any recipe
or culinary creation. Bourbon Vanilla is named for the
Island now know as Reunion and the Comoros, but in the
early 19th century were called the Bourbon Islands. The
Bourbon Vanilla plant stock originally came from Mexico.
Bourbon and Mexican Vanillas have the familiar natural
vanilla flavor that we associate with vanilla ice cream
and other vanilla-flavored desserts and beverages. Use
Bourbon Vanilla in baked goods, ice cream and anything
where a traditional vanilla flavor is desired.
Natural Styles Tropical Tahitian Vanilla Extract is hand
crafted on the beautiful Island of Tahiti, using only the
finest premium select Tahitian Vanilla beans. Used by the
world’s top chefs to flavor or enhance fruit based
dishes and baked goods. It high heliotropin content makes
it especially good for calming the stomach. Tahitian Vanilla
extracts fruity flavor offsets seafood beautifully, and
is very good in cream and custard desserts, and fruit specialties.
Its floral flavor is reminiscent of cherries, prunes, raisins
and anise. Tahitian Vanilla also originally comes from
Mexican plant stock, but it mutated at some point in the
last fifty to sixty years and became its own species. It
is significantly different from Bourbon and Mexican Vanilla.
Natural Styles Premium Aztec Mexican Vanilla Extract.
Mexico’s natural production of Vanilla is a sensitive
process which limits supply. Natural Styles retrieves the
essence of the original Vanilla with its offering of this
premium Mexican Vanilla Extract. We invite you to explore
and appreciate the clean fresh taste of all our Natural
Styles Vanilla Extracts. Mexican Vanilla is a very smooth,
creamy, spicy vanilla. It’s especially good in desserts
made without heat or with a short cooking time. Dark chocolate,
cream desserts, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages,
ethnic foods, wild game, poultry or meat, all benefit from
Mexican Vanilla. Spicy Mexican Vanilla compliments the
flavor of cinnamon and can help reduce the acidity of tomato-based
products like chili or tomato sauces. Vanilla Planifolia
(the true vanilla), is indigenous to Mexico, where it is
pollinated by a tiny bee called Melipona. Aztec vanilla
will compliment our full line allowing for chefs to blend
their own creations using the distinct flavor profile of
theses vanilla extracts.
We recommend trying Bourbon, Tahitian, & Mexican, to
see if you have a personal preference. If you still can’t
decide, combine all three flavors to create you own blend. |
