Vanilla, Page 3 of 3
(6-7-99) Have discovered that the bean will fall off the vine when it's ready. The center (darkest) bean is one that fell off either June 3 or 4. As soon as I found it, I gave it the boiling water routine for 30 seconds and noticed that it "hissed" air bubbles out of the stem (which didn't happen with the other 2 beans). This bean also turned black within 24 hours. The bean on the left is the one that I picked on May 28. The bean on the right was picked on June 4. I have noticed with all three beans (and more intensely so with the darkest bean) that they are developing a faint scent of cinnamon toast with butter. Hopefully this is the beginning of that wonderful true vanilla scent when they're finished curing! I'm going to allow the remaining 2 beans to ripen until they fall off the vine. (I sacrificed the smallest 7th bean to cut it in half to see what the inside looked like as soon as I picked it.)
(6-8-99) Many thanks to William Hall for directing me to this link: http://www.ippi.com/dir_dat/dat_vanilla.html!! Lots of excellent information on vanilla here. After reviewing it, I have decided to pick the remaining 2 beans before they fall off the vine (but when they're yellow and softening). I'm also keeping the pods in the Tupperware container (at night) without their terrycloth "blanket."
(8-6-99) Here's a wonderful link for anyone interested in the history, cultivation, processing and botany of vanilla: http://www.shanks.com. They even have a link so you can download the contents of these pages in MS Word format. THANK YOU, Robert W.!!!
(7-18-99) Sliced open the best-looking of my 3 beans and a vanilla bean purchased from the grocery store. Big difference! The purchased bean is rather oily and very fragrant (tasty, too), while my processed bean is quite dry (though flexible), only moderately fragrant, and has nearly no vanilla taste. It's possible that I didn't sweat it long enough (started the drying process too soon). The other two (smaller) pods were way too dry--almost crisp. OR it's possible that those three pods fell off the vine before they were ready! Note the picture below, taken at 7-18-99:
(8-6-99) There are three beans still hanging on the vine at 8-6-99. They show no sign of turning yellow, nor are they growing any further. I'm hoping that this means they are still ripening on the vine. I'll let them hang around until they turn color or fall off, then try the curing process on these three beans, giving them more of the sweating routine. In the meantime, I've purchased two more vanillas, v. planifolia (fragrans) from Companion Plants (http://www.frognet.net/companion_plants/)(each rooted cutting approx. 12" long, price $12 each). I potted them in redwood bark, with a plant pole made from styrofoam, and am growing them in the same area as the other vanillas.
(8-16-99) Just found more info on vanilla growing/pollination and bean curing:
1. Keep temperatures warm; 65 F. nights and 70-85 F. by day. Usual humidity, but increasing methods should be useful.
2. Grow in partial shade, but good bright light.
3. Keep growing medium evenly moist. Good drainage of pot and soil are important.
4. This is a semi-terrestrial orchid, so one may use a highly organic, spongy soil mix.
5. Pollination should be done by hand, during the first day, when a flower is fully open. Work with a sharpened toothpick. You will note that the anther (pollen-bearing structure) hangs over the stigma (sticky receptable), but there is a flap between the two. (This prevents self-pollination.) Remove the pollen-bearing portion and place it on the stigma. In a few days, you will see an enlargement of the pod if all is well. If not, the old flower wilts and drops off.
6. Curing is done by blanching in boiling water for two minutes. Place pods on a drying surface, such as a wool fabric, in the morning sun. At noon, roll them in the wool, permitting them to sweat. Place in an airtight jar overnight. Repeat the same procedure until pods become brown and have the vanilla fragrance. Discard any beans that become moldy. Some of that can be avoided by rubbing the beans dry with a cotton cloth each day.
(9-27-99) The last 3 beans are off the vine. The vine started sending out side growths and new growth from the leads just after the first of September. The smallest of the remaining 3 beans fell off the vine during the first week of September, and I picked the other two on 9-26-99 (one was banana yellow and the other yellow-green, but both were quite easy to hand pick off the vine). This time I boiled the beans for 2 minutes, rather than 1. Haven't figured out how to sweat them during the day, since our weather has headed out of warm summer into cool fall. Come to think of it, if the beans are supposed to hang onto the vine for several months (as long as 10 months, according to some information), how are you supposed to sweat/dry them in "hot sun?"
(12-16-99) I placed the last 3 beans in a small glass jar (see picture) in early October. After a few days of opening the lid and placing them (jar and all) in the hot sun, the smallest of the beans dried out badly, so I tossed it. By late October or early November, I kept forgetting to open the jar and give the beans a warm afternoon "airing," just leaving them in the sealed jar on the kitchen sink. However, when I finally got around to opening the lid to check on the 2 beans, I discovered that the vanilla odor was much more intense than my first experiments. By mid-November, I could also detect a faint odor of mold (similar to a moldy spot on a piece of citrus fruit), as if the beans were starting to ferment slightly. Upon close examination, there were some tiny spots of mold here and there, which I just wiped off with a dry paper towel. The beans seem to like being semi-ignored in their sealed glass jar; they're still quite pliable and turning dark brown very slowly. I'll keep to this lazy routine until the beans either develop more vanilla scent and odor, or just rot.
(1-5-00) Just noticed these new buds forming on the same vine that bloomed last year, maybe 2 feet further along the vine than last year's 2nd blossom cluster. So far, no indication of flower buds on any of the other vines.
(2-28-00) The vine has chosen a very narrow, tight and difficult spot to bloom this year (the wood beams are 2x4s and the pipe is 3/4" diameter). I tend to break off more unopened buds than pollinate an opened flower, so may just let them bloom and drop.
(4-27-00) This is interesting. The blossom cluster that formed in January of this year is all dried up (the brown stuff at the upper left of the picture), but I just noticed two new flower clusters forming behind it (toward the main stem)! Wonder if this is because of our unpredictable weather or if this variety of vanilla just decided to "do its thing" again?
(2-25-02) The first of 3 flower clusters on the v. pompona vine to open this year. What I am 99% positive is a true v. planifolia vine seems to be producing a flower cluster. When they open, I'll take a picture of the flower for comparison. If the flower (and vine) proves to be planifolia, I'll give it its own separate page as I try my hand at those beans too.
Vanilla barbellata has been moved to its own page (click here).
Vanilla planifolia has been moved to its own page (click here).
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