Stages of production

Harvest
The vanilla bean grows quickly on the vine but is not ready for harvest until maturity — approximately nine months. Harvesting vanilla beans is as labor intensive as pollinating the blossoms. Immature dark green pods are not harvested. Pale yellow discoloration which commences at the distal end of the beans is an indication of the maturity of pods. Each bean ripens at its own time, requiring a daily harvest. To ensure the finest flavor from every bean, each individual pod must be picked by hand just as it begins to split on the end. Over matured beans are likely to split causing a reduction in market value. Its commercial value is fixed based on the length of the pod. If the bean is more than 15 cm in length it belongs to first quality product. If the beans are between 10 to 15 cm long pods are under second quality and beans less than 10 cm in length are under third quality. Each of the beans has a considerable amount of seeds inside the pod which are covered by a dark red liquid from which the vanilla essence is extracted. Vanilla bean yield depends on the care and management
given to the hanging and fruiting vines. Any practice directed to stimulate aerial root production has a direct effect on vine productivity. A five year old vine can produce between 1.5 and 3 kg pods and this production can increase up to 6 kg after a few years. The harvested green beans can be commercialized as such or cured in order to get a better market price


Curing
Several methods exist in the market for curing vanilla; nevertheless all of them consist of four basic steps: killing, sweating, slow-drying, and conditioning of the beans.

 Killing
The vegetative tissue of the vanilla pod is killed to prevent further growing. The method of killing varies, but may be accomplished by sun killing, oven killing, hot water killing, killing by scratching, or killing by freezing.
Hot water killing consists of dipping the pods in hot water (63-65C) for three minutes to stop the vegetative growth of the pods and initiate enzymatic reactions responsible for the aroma.

Sweating
This method consists of wrapping the beans in woolen cloth in order to raise the temperature (45-65C, under high humidity) of the beans under sunlight conditions for one hour for up to 10 days. During this time the pods are stored in wooden boxes under air tight conditions during the night. Under these conditions the beans develop the characteristic vanilla flavor, aroma and color. Its purpose is to allow enzymes to catalyze the reactions involved in generating the vanilla flavor and aroma.

Drying
To prevent rotting and to lock the aroma in the pods, the pods are dried. Often, pods are laid out in the sun during the mornings and returned to their boxes in the afternoons. When 25-30% of the pods' weight is moisture (as opposed to the 60-70% they began drying with) they have completed the curing process and will exhibit their fullest aromatic qualities. This reduction in moisture content is achieved by spreading the beans on a wooden rack in a room for three to four weeks.

Conditioning of the bean
This step is performed by storing the pods for a few months in closed boxes where the fragrance develops. The processed beans are sorted, graded, bundled and wrapped in paraffin paper and preserved for the development of desired bean qualities, especially flavor and aroma. The cured vanilla beans contain an average of 2.5 % vanillin.

Grading
Once fully cured, the vanilla is sorted by quality and graded