Craft & growers
Quick answer: Vanille Désiré is a family of Malagasy growers. Our family grows the vanilla in the north-east, in the SAVA region; the peppers and the spices come from Vangaindrano, in the south-east. Three generations work the same plots, and the road stays short: from the plant to the parcel, everything is done between us.
Craft is not a marketing argument here: it is the story of a family and of a village. What you find in our beans is the result of precise gestures that can only be learned at someone's elbow.
The story of Désiré
It all begins in the 1960s at Vangaindrano. Désiré, a young Malagasy man, watches his father grow vanilla under the forest canopy. He learns the gestures: spotting the flower that is ready, pollinating at the right moment, sensing maturity. Nothing is written in a manual: you watch, you copy, you correct yourself. That is what the family business was built on.
Three generations of growers
Today the estate is run by Désiré's children and grandchildren. Each generation has brought something: rigour, organisation, an opening to export, and above all respect for long timescales. Vanilla will not be hurried.
From the vine to the conditioning trunk
Vanilla is worked in five great stages: planting (3 to 4 years before the first flower), hand pollination (every flower, by hand, within a window of a few hours), harvest at 9 months, scalding and sweating, then conditioning in wooden trunks for 6 to 9 months. Every stage counts; with us, every stage is done by hand.
Why the work is done by hand
No machine can replace the eye and the hand of an experienced grower. Sorting the beans, sensing the moisture in a trunk, adjusting a drying because the day turned damper than expected: these are the micro-decisions that separate a good vanilla from an exceptional one.
A short and transparent chain
It is the same family from the field to the parcel: we grow, we cure and we ship ourselves, with no middleman and no broker. The price is fair because there is nobody between our land and your kitchen. Shipping to France is done in controlled batches, with a quality check on arrival.
Our commitment to the village
Part of our turnover supports the village school. Not as a one-off project, but over the long term: supplies, meals, small works. It is our way of staying anchored where it all began.
Frequently asked questions
Are you organic? Part of our production is. Organic certification in Madagascar is a long road, and we are walking it step by step.
Can you trace every bean? Yes, back to the harvest zone and the family who grew it.
Can we visit? We welcome professional partners on site, by appointment. We also document the work regularly in photographs and video.
To go further
Discover the full story of Désiré, and our Madagascar Bourbon vanilla that comes from this short chain.
See also: the Vanille Désiré wiki and Bourbon Planifolia vanilla.
