food; vanilla; coconut; nutmeg; plantation; farming; agriculture

Tamil Nandu, India
Sorting, grading, and softening vanilla bean pods in India. Processing vanilla beans is a very laborious process that involves scalding, sweating, and massaging the bean pods by hand to help vanillin enzymes create the prized flavor. On the international market, vanilla prices fluctuate wildly, recently reaching $600/kg for properly massaged and cured pods, making it the world’s second most expensive spice after saffron. Today, almost all of what we eat is synthetic vanilla flavoring, and less than 1% of the global market is sourced from vanilla beans.

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Tamil Nandu, India<br />
Sorting, grading, and softening vanilla bean pods in India. Processing vanilla beans is a very laborious process that involves scalding, sweating, and massaging the bean pods by hand to help vanillin enzymes create the prized flavor. On the international market, vanilla prices fluctuate wildly, recently reaching $600/kg for properly massaged and cured pods, making it the world’s second most expensive spice after saffron. Today, almost all of what we eat is synthetic vanilla flavoring, and less than 1% of the global market is sourced from vanilla beans.