Vanilla Beans

Other Common Names: Vanilla Bean, Vanilla Pod, Vanilla Extract. Botanical Name: (Vanilla planifolia)

Vanilla is made by drying and curing the green, tasteless pod from a tropical, climbing orchid that is indigenous to South America. The curing process takes up to 3 months, and by the time it is completed, a soft, pliable and fragrant Vanilla Bean may have been handled between 200 to 250 times!

Herbie’s Spices Gourmet Grade Vanilla Beans are graded according to flavour quality, not size, and are moist, succulent, aromatic and full-flavoured. We source these from a grower in Mexico who we have been buying from for the last 24 years. It is normal for high quality beans to have a slightly oily feel.

Add a whole Vanilla Bean to fruit during stewing, or slit the bean open and scrape out the millions of sticky seeds within and blend through ice-cream, unflavoured yoghurt or rich, thick cream.

Vanilla Extract is made by steeping chopped, cured Vanilla Beans in alcohol and then distilling-off much of the spirit.