VANILLA EXTRACT REGULATION

VANILLA EXTRACT is the only flavoring material with a U.S.FDA standard of identity. It is included in the Code of Federal Regulations (21-CFR-169). The standard was developed and promulgated concurrent, and in close relationship, with the ice cream standard (21-CFR-135.110). 

This coordination was necessary since vanilla extract and related flavorings are ice cream's most widely used flavorants; and the labeling of ice cream is dependent on the type of flavoring used. Category I (21-CFR-135) vanilla ice cream contains only pure vanilla components and no artificial flavors. This product can be labeled "Vanilla Ice Cream." Category II (21-CFR-135) vanilla ice cream can beflavored with up to one ounce of synthetic vanillin per unit (defined below) of vanilla extract.

This natural and artificial product, where the natural is the characterizing and predominant contributor to the flavor, must be labelled "Vanilla Flavored Ice Cream." Finally, Category III (21-CFR-135) ice cream contains predominantly or exclusively an artificial vanilla flavoring which includes primarily synthetic vanillin. This product must be labelled "Artificially Flavored" or "Artificial Vanilla."

Both the ice cream standard and the vanilla standard nomenclatures rely heavily on the definition of a unit of vanilla constituent. This term is defined by the Vanilla Standard 21-CFR-169.3. The types of vanilla beans are identified as "the properly cured and dried fruit pods of Vanilla planifolia Andrews and of Vanilla Tahitensis Moore." But the term properly cured and dried is not defined. The quantity of beans necessary to make a unit weight of vanilla beans is also identified. This last part has led to confusion in that the definition of quantity was set at

VANILLA BEANS GRADE AFTER CURING

In these part, i would share about the process after curing vanilla beans.

After curing process, generally about five to seven pounds of green vanilla beans yields one pound of finished product, or about one hundred twenty pounds of finished beans per acre of vanilla vines. When properly cured, vanilla beans should resemble long, very thin cigarillos; supple, very dark brown, a raisin like texture and a somewhat oily sheen. High quality beans may have white crystals of vanillin clingingto the outside, but this is rarely seen today.

The beans should be free of mold and insects. Beans should be less than 25-30% moisture or a greenish-white mold will develop. If mold does develop, it is removed by washing with alcohol in mild cases, or by cutting off the affected portion if severe. The odor of mold from a few beans can permeate an entire box.

This reduces the quality and the value of the beans. After curing, the vanilla beans can be divided into thefollowing four quality grades by appearance (the numbers of, and names given to, these grades differ according to source).

1. Whole beans, no defects', oily sheen, smooth exterior, moist, aromatic, very dark brown.

2. Whole beans, some defects', rough exterior, somewhat reddish color, spotted, dry.

3. Splits; whole split beans.

4. Cuts; beans chopped into 1-2 in. lengths, may include very small whole beans.

The sorted beans are grouped by quality grade, packed loosely or in bundles of 50-100 in tin, wooden or cardboard boxes, sealed and shipped to their destination. The bulk of global vanilla bean trading is handled by only a handful of importer-dealers. Internationally, all beans are traded in the cured form. Locally, many vanilla farmers sell their crops of green beans to regional curing operations, but green beans are not traded internationally.

VANILLA CURING

The vanilla orchid and the mature vanilla bean have no aroma; it is the curing process that develops the characteristic flavor of vanilla beans. Vanilla beans left on the vine will cure naturally, but the pod splits, loses contents, and ultimately decreases in flavor and value. The Mexican Indians developed the original, very labor intensive process for curing green vanilla beans.French made slight modifications to this original process, and this Bourbon process is generally practiced in the Madagascar and Comoros Islands today. Other modifications are practiced in Indonesia.

No geographical source of vanilla beans strictly employs one method of curing and many parts of the process are interchanged (mixed and matched). The curing operation is not a regulated, largescale, sophisticated procedure. It is crude, nonhygienic, subject to personal modifications, and is practiced by individual small farmers up to larger scale curer-exporters. Any given shipment of cured beans may represent the composite
curing operations of dozens of individual producers. During the curing process, each bean is individually handled and inspected at least a dozen times.

All curing methods involve four basic phases:

1. Wilting or killing of the beans, which stops the natural respiratory metabolism and vegetative life of the pod . The specific technique used to kill the beans will affect subsequent vanillin contents. After wilting, the beans may have begun to turn chocolate brown in color.

 2. Sweating the wilted beans until they are flexible in the hand and can be easily wrapped around the finger. This step involves a fairly rapid dehydration and slow fermentation. The characteristic flavor compounds develop here. Key enzymatic and nonenzymatic reactions occur during this phase forming sugars, phenols, quinones, pigments, vanillin and other aromatic compounds. After sweating, the beans are deep chocolate brown. 

3. Drying of the sweated beans very slowly at low temperature to 20-25% finished moisture. Beans should still be flexible; over-drying, or too rapid drying, reduces flavor quality and value.

4. Conditioning of the dried beans in closed boxes for a few months, where they finish the development of their characteristic fragrance. Unless moldy, beans can be kept indefinitely in this state.

HORTICULTURE OF VANILLA

Vanilla is the common term for the alcoholic extract of the vanilla bean. The vanilla bean is actually the fruit of a thick, tropical orchid vine. Of the 35,000 or more species in the orchid family, Orchidacae, the vanilla orchids produce the only edible fruit. There are over 50 vanilla orchid species, of which only two are of commercial use. Vanilla planifolia Andrews (also known as Vanilla fragrans (Salisbury) Ames) is the species responsible for 99% of the vanilla imported into the United States.


The other species, Vanilla tahitensis (Tahitian Vanilla) grows on the French Pacific Islands and is visually quite different. The tahitensis pods are shorter, have a thicker skin, less seeds, and are much broader than the planifolia beans. Tahitian vanilla beans are primarily exported to France and Europe, although roughly nine tons are imported into the United States.

Vanilla pompona is frequently cited as a third commercial species of vanilla orchid used in perfumes. Today, this species is rarely seen and is mostly a curiosity. Visually, the pods resemble small bananas. 

Vanilla planifolia is indigenous to southeastern Mexico, the West Indies, Central America and the northern part of South America. Vanilla vines will grow between 25° north and south of the equator; in hot, moist tropical climates; in a 50/50 mixture of sun and shade; from sea level to 2,000 ft. altitude; in areas with frequent moderate rainfall and no extended droughts or high winds; and with gentle slopes for drainage. For commercial production of vanilla beans, it is optimum to have the rainfall evenly distributed throughout 10 months of the year followed by a two-month dry spell to check vegetative growth and spur flower formation. These conditions describe a typical tropical island climate. 

Today, virtually all vanilla beans are grown on islands such as Madagascar and the Indonesian Islands, where temperatures range between 70-9O0F, with 80-100 in. of rain per year. Vanilla planifolia has smooth, succulent bright green leaves and aerial roots which cling to some type of support. If left untended, vanilla vines will grow 75 ft to the tree tops. On vanilla plantations they are pruned or bent downward to keep the flowers and beans in reach of the workers for pollination and harvest. The pruning and bending also seems to increase flowering.

Commercially, vanilla is propagated entirely by means of 3 ft cuttings, 8 to 12 nodes in length. Longer cuttings usually bring the vines into early production. Vanilla is very difficult to grow from seeds.

All about Vanilla - Vanilla discover

Vanilla, the world's most prized flavor, is one of the most valuable treasures the Europeans brought back from the New World. 

Like many spices in history, vanilla was once very expensive

It is believed, the Totonaca people of Mexico were the first cultivators of vanilla, during Mesoamerican times. They believed that the Gods had bestowed this exotic fruit upon them.  Vanilla continues to be cultivated in the eastern portions of tropical Mexico.

When Cortez landed his army in Eastern Mexico in 1519, he formed an alliance with the local Indians, who then helped lead the Spanish troops against Montezuma and his Aztec empire. Montezuma royally welcomed Cortez with a vanilla-cocoa brew. This drink, chocolatl, was concocted from cocoa beans, ground corn, honey and Tlilxochitl (vanilla pods). Cortez took Montezuma's life and his treasures, including the secret of vanilla, which was brought back to the Old World. For several hundred years thereafter, cured vanilla beans were imported from Mexico to Europe for the production of vanilla flavor and perfume. Although the Spaniards had this supply of cured beans, they did not have the complete secret of how to grow and cure vanilla. It was over a hundred years before the Europeans could successfully cultivate the vanilla plant in greenhouses. Propagation through cuttings was somewhat successful in the early 170Os, although the plants seldom flowered and never produced fruits.
 

Plants were started in tropical regions, including Indonesia, also with no fruit. Eventually, in 1836, a botanist noted that the flowers needed to be individually hand pollinated in order to fruit. In Mexico, this may have been done naturally by bees, hummingbirds and/or a species of leaf-cutting ant. There is no experimental proof that any insect is actually effective in pollinating the vanilla flowers.

By the mid 180Os improvements in the human handpollination techniques had been developed which led to successful vanilla plantations in Madagascar, Reunion, Mauritius, the Seychelles Islands, Tahiti, the Comoros Islands, Ceylon, Java, the Philippines, and parts of Africa.

By the 19th century more vanilla was being grown in Madagascar and tropical Asia than in Mexico, breaking the monopoly enjoyed by Mexico for over 200 years. Mexico continued to be a major producer of vanilla beans until the mid-1900s.

Vanilla grows on a vine and is the fruit of a flower called the Vanilla plan folia. While native to Mexico, today there are 3 other regions that produce vanilla beans. Madagascar is the largest producer, and beans from this region are known as Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, which refers to the Burbon islands where they are grown. The second largest producer is Indonesia. The vanilla from this area is not as sweet as the Madagascar vanilla and not as desirable. The remaining 10 percent of vanilla comes from Mexico and Tahiti.