Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla, your choice: sizes S/M/L/XL (10 beans)

• S, 10-12 cm: for infusing, for a homemade vanilla sugar, for spiced rum. It's the least expensive size per unit.
• M, 13-15 cm: the everyday pastry size, for custards, flans, ice cream.
• L, 16-18 cm: when vanilla is the subject of the dessert and the seeds need to show.
• XL, 19-20 cm: the exceptional bean, for a restaurant menu or as a gift.

As whole beans, sold individually, we sell only Gourmet Grade A: moisture between 30 and 38 %, vanillin content between 1.4 and 3 %, no split beans in the batch. It is supple enough to wrap around a finger without breaking, slightly oily to the touch, a uniform dark brown. It's the only grade that stands up to the pastry gesture: the bean is split from end to end, the seeds are scraped out, then the empty pod is put back to infuse. This is the first thing to know when choosing the right Bourbon vanilla.

Our family grows and prepares this vanilla in the SAVA region, in north-eastern Madagascar, and sells it direct, with no middleman. Every flower is hand-pollinated; the beans stay on the vine for months before killing, sweating, sun- then shade-drying, and months of conditioning in trunks. Sorting is then done by hand, bean by bean.

• For custards, flans and ice cream: 2 to 4 beans per litre.
• For drinks and infusions: 1 to 2 beans per litre.
• For spiced rum: 3 to 5 beans per litre, see dosage by preparation.

Keep your beans in the resealed pouch or in a glass tube, at room temperature, away from air, light and moisture, never in the refrigerator: stored this way, they keep for years, as detailed in our storage article. If a white bloom appears on the surface, it's crystallised vanillin and not mould, as explained in the white bloom, that's vanillin. A bean that's already been split and scraped can be reused: rinse it, dry it, and slip it into your sugar.

All our Madagascar Bourbon vanilla is gathered in one place: the four sizes, the glass tubes, the caviar, the powder and the extract, bought direct from the producer. Order shipped within 48 h, with tracking; delivery free from 30 € to a pickup point, within mainland France.