Uganda Vanilla beans "Mukono vanilla”
GI Type:
Food
GI Status:
Potential
Right Holder / Association:
n/a
GI Identifier:
UG00000001
Type of Product:
Spice
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Characteristics / Features
Vanilla is a semi-terrestrial orchid, Vanilla fragrans syn. V. planifolia, a member of the ORCHIDACEAE family.
Vanilla starts flowering in the 3rd year of planting, however it depends on the size of the original cutting used for planting. Maximum flower production will be seen in the 7th and 8th year of a plant.
In Uganda, vanilla flowering typically occurs in March-June and September-October. Because vanilla has no suitable pollinating insects or birds, producers have to pollinater vines by hand to harvest any bean.
Vanilla flowers last for only a day.
Production and Processing
Vanilla pods will be ready for picking when the ends become slightly yellow.
After picking, the pods/beans dip in hot water at 65°C for two minutes; this process is done to kill any live tissues in the vanilla beans.
Let your heated beans drain, then lay the pods in lines on a cotton (not wool) blanket; research done in Uganda with different materials found cotton blankets to be the best.
The blanket is then folded over the pods and then rolled up. The rolls of blankets were placed on shelves in a dry, airy shed to allow the pods to sweat.
Unroll the blankets each day to expose the vanilla beans to the sun for a period of around half an hour. Repeat this until curing is finished.
The whole idea is to retain the juices in the pods and not to desiccate them.
Once cured, crystals of vanillin form on the outside of the pods which give off a pleasant vanilla odour.
Link with the Territory
Vanilla is only grown in a few places, such as Madagascar, Uganda, Mexico, Indonesia and China. It requires a warm tropical climate, making it vulnerable to disease and natural disasters. All of this combines to make the global vanilla market one of the world’s most volatile.
These beans are the finest gourmet Bourbon-style beans we are now seeing in the market - surpassing even the finest Madagascar Bourbon beans we carry. In fact, an independent testing laboratory has reported significantly higher vanillin content in Uganda vanilla beans than any reading we have seen to date on Madagascar beans.