Four sizes of Madagascar Bourbon vanilla beans lined up against a ruler
Ten Madagascar Bourbon vanilla beans laid out in a fan
Two Madagascar Bourbon vanilla beans held side by side, the difference in length shown by hand

Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Beans

€33,90
4.9/5 · 14 reviews
Variety
Vanilla planifolia, Bourbon
Terroir
SAVA region, north-east of Madagascar
Preparation
Hand-pollinated, blanched, sun-dried, cured
Size
Measured with a gauge, written on the pouch: S, M, L, XL
Aromatic notes
Cocoa · Prune · Butter · Woody
Best for
Custards, ice creams, flans, spiced rum

Bourbon vanilla beans from Madagascar bought direct from the grower: our family grows and prepares them in the SAVA region, in north-eastern Madagascar, and we ship them to you ourselves. There is nobody between the vine and your kitchen.

One page, two questions: which bean length, and how many. The price per bean is written next to each format, so you compare without doing the maths. The whole range is in the Bourbon vanilla from Madagascar collection.

Size S · 10 to 12 cm
Quantity 50 beans

Frequently added together

What our customers say

4.9Out of 5 14 verified reviews
Fast and efficient delivery. Excellent vanilla beans that filled our whole house with fragrance as soon as we opened the parcel. The beans are very fresh. Many thanks...
Gil FERRIER Verified purchase
We are very satisfied with the products ordered. Very good quality.
Michel PLACE Verified purchase
Review left without comment.
Cairoche Verified purchase

Our vanilla beans ship from France within 48 hours, tracked, and the bag is vacuum sealed.

The price per bean drops from two items

Size decides everything

For the same variety and the same harvest, a 19 cm bean carries twice as many seeds as an 11 cm bean. That is the only difference between our four sizes: it is the same Bourbon vanilla, Vanilla planifolia, from the same harvest, grown and prepared by our family in the SAVA region, in north-eastern Madagascar.

  • S, 10 to 12 cm: for infusing, for a homemade vanilla sugar, for an infused rum. The least expensive bean each.
  • M, 13 to 15 cm: the size for everyday baking. Custards, baked creams, ice creams.
  • L, 16 to 18 cm: when vanilla is the subject of the dessert and the caviar has to show.
  • XL, 19 to 20 cm: the exceptional bean, for a menu or for a gift.

Origin

SAVA region, north-eastern Madagascar. From hand pollination through to the conditioning of the beans, everything is done by us: there is nobody between our land and your kitchen.

Quantities
  • Custards, baked creams, ice creams: 2 to 4 beans per litre
  • Drinks and infusions: 1 to 2 beans per litre
  • Infused rum: 3 to 5 beans per litre

Storage

In its resealed pouch or a glass tube, at room temperature, away from light. Never in the fridge. The white bloom that may appear is crystallised vanillin, a sign of richness, never mould.

In the same collection

Madagascar wild combava powder (20 g jar)
Wild Kaffir Lime Powder (20g) 5.0 (5) €9,00€5,90
Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract (20ml)
Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract (20ml) 5.0 (3) €8,90

Fourteen months of work, eight steps

From the flower to the parcel

The journey of one vanilla bean at our place, from the flower pollinated by hand to the carton that leaves for France.

  1. A hand parts the petals of a vanilla flower to pollinate it
    Pollination

    The flower

    It opens for a single morning. It has to be married by hand, flower after flower, before the sun climbs.

    Hand pollination of a vanilla flower. Illustrative image.

  2. Green vanilla beans hanging from a vanilla vine
    Nine months on the vine

    The bean

    Nine months hanging on the vine. We cut when the tip turns yellow, not a day sooner.

    Green beans on the vine, before the cut. Illustrative image.

  3. Vanilla beans spread out in the sun on mats
    Sun drying

    The sun

    Scalded in hot water, the beans go out on the mats every morning. They turn brown and wrinkle.

    Sun drying on the mats, SAVA region.

  4. Vanilla beans drying in the shade on long tarpaulins
    Slow drying

    The shade

    In the afternoon they come back in to finish drying in the shade. This coming and going lasts for weeks.

    Back in the shade for slow drying, SAVA region.

  5. Bundles of vanilla laid side by side in a paper-lined trunk
    In the trunk

    The ageing

    Tied in bundles, laid down in paper. The aroma gathers over months.

    Bundles stored in a trunk for ageing.

  6. Sorters grading vanilla beans on a workshop table
    Grading

    The sorting

    Bean by bean, by length and by grain. Each size leaves in its own bundle.

    Sorting and grading at the workshop, Sambava.

  7. Gloved hands filling glass tubes with vanilla beans
    Workshop

    Into the tube

    Counted, lined up, slipped one by one into the glass. Gloves, apron, clean table.

    Filling the tubes, beans counted one by one.

  8. Numbered and strapped export cartons lined up in the warehouse
    Export

    The departure

    Cartons weighed, numbered, strapped. They leave Sambava for France.

    Numbered cartons, ready for export.

Our family grows, cures, sorts and ships. Between the vine and your kitchen there is nobody else.

Steps 1 and 2: royalty-free illustrative images. Green beans on the vine, photo RAJOELIMBOLOLONA Maryo Sebastieni, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. The other six photos are ours, taken in the SAVA region of Madagascar.

The move

Split and scrape

  1. Split lengthwise

    Knife tip halfway through, one single pass from end to end.

  2. Scrape out the seeds

    The back of the blade scrapes both halves. That black is the caviar.

  3. Infuse the bean too

    The emptied skin holds the flavour: it goes into the cream with the seeds. Never throw it away.

One bean, split and scraped, flavours a litre of cream.

From the bag to the scale

20 beans or 250 g?

Four vanilla beans in sizes S, M, L and XL lined up along a centimetre ruler

Size M

1 kg

≈ 250 beans

Size

Our four sizes, measured against the ruler. The bag itself is sold by weight.

  1. One bean weighs

    4g

    Average weight of one size M bean, measured on our bags.

  2. 250 g is

    ≈63beans

  3. Per kilo

    ≈250beans

    And 500 g is ≈ 125 beans.

The bag states its weight, and we write the size.

Ten Bourbon vanilla beans laid out in a fan on a black background

Our beans laid out in a fan, close-up on the skin. Photograph of our own sizes, unretouched.

The frost

Those white crystals on the bean

  1. What you see

    A veil of fine white crystals along the bean. Dry, glossy, in streaks that follow the ridges.

  2. What it is

    Crystallised vanillin, risen from the heart of the bean. Never mould: mould is fuzzy and smells musty. Frost smells of vanilla.

  3. What to do

    Nothing. The bean goes back into its tube. It is a sign of richness: do not throw it away.

Frost is a sign of richness, not a flaw.

Read the wiki entry on vanillin frost
Growers, not resellers

Our commitments

Our family grows

Our family grows

From hand pollination to curing, everything happens on our land, in the SAVA region in northeastern Madagascar. There is no one between our land and your kitchen.

From the grower to your kitchen

From the grower to your kitchen

The vanilla beans ship from France within 48 hours, tracked, vacuum sealed. Direct grower pricing, no middleman, no broker.

The size is on the label

The size is on the label

Every vanilla bean is measured with a gauge and the size is written on the bag. You know exactly what you're paying for.

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