What is Vanilla?
"Vanilla is the fruit of a thick green orchid vine (planifolia andrews or tahitensis) that grows wild on the edge of the tropical forests. The vines, when grown wild, will grow up around a tree. Commercially, the vines are pruned for a few reasons. One, is that the vines will not flower until they stop growing. And two, the vines need to be at a height where workers can reach them.
Once the vines stop growing they produce clusters of buds that eventually develop into orchids, up to 1000 flowers for one vine. Not all the flowers are hand pollinated though. They are thinned out so as to guarantee good quality beans. After the hand pollination, the flowers develop into long thin green pods or beans... Average length is about 6 inches long. These tasteless and odorless green beans are handpicked at maturity (9 months) and this is when the curing process can start--a long and intensive process that can last from 4 to 6 months until the beans become a very dark brown color and develop all the expected flavor and taste.
One of the important compounds is the vanillin, the higher the content, the higher the quality." - Wikipedia
About Papua New Guinea
"New Guinea (as it used to be known), one of the first land masses after Africa and Eurasia to be populated by modern humans, had its first migration at about the same time as Australia.
Agriculture was independently developed in the New Guinea highlands around 7,000 BC, making it one of the few areas of original plant domestication in the world. A major migration of Austronesia speaking peoples came to coastal regions roughly 2,500 years ago, along with the introduction of pottery, pigs, and certain fishing techniques. Some 300 years ago, the sweet potato entered New Guinea with its far higher crop yields transforming traditional agriculture. It largely supplanted the previous staple, taro, and gave rise to a significant increase in population in the highlands.
Europeans to sight Papua New Guinea first were probably Portuguese and Spanish navigators sailing in the South Pacific in the early 16th century. The principal island of Papua New Guinea was discovered around 1526-27 by Don Jorge de Meneses. Although European navigators visited and explored the Papua New Guinea islands for the next 170 years, little was known of the Papua New Guinea inhabitants until the late 19th century." - PNG Tourism Board
Intec Vanilla Niugini Limited is dedicated to becoming Papua New Guinea's leading exporter of pure vanilla products, and determined to cultivate sustainable long-term relationships with local vanilla farmers and buyers, while simultaneously increasing participation within the different areas of the PNG vanilla supply chain. We currently export our high quality beans worldwide to distributors, extractors, end-users, and all concerned parties within the flavor and fragrance industries. Our products and packaging are consequently very flexible, due to the high demands of our various customers.
Our company has also initiated increased transparency within the local PNG market, hoping that by doing so we can stabilize prices and ensure long-term quality and business integrity. To ensure further customer satisfaction, Intec Vanilla is also making a concerted effort to undergo the certification of its vanilla products to internationally-recognized "Organic" and "Fair Trade" standards. A big portion of our farmers have already been certified under Australia's Certified Organic Board as producing 100% organic vanilla.
PNG Vanilla Beans
Papua New Guinea has two varieties of Vanilla Beans. One is Vanilla Planifolia which specie originated from Mexico and the other one is Vanilla Tahitensis from Tahiti. Climate and soil nutrients make these varieties unique from its origins.
Vanilla Planifolia is typically long and slender with a length that ranges from 14cm to 26cm. It has a very rich flavor and aroma similar to the Madagascar variety.
Vanilla Tahitensis is totally different from Planifolia, in appearance, flavor and aroma. It has a smooth fruity and flowery flavor which is perfect to many applications.
Two varieties are categorized into same grading specifications, both are Organically grown and processed:
Gourmet Quality Beans - almost perfect in appearance, shiny straight beans, no split, no scar and very much appealing to the eye. Normally reddish brown or dark brown to black in color.
Extraction Quality Beans - used primarily for the production of vanilla extract. It includes shorter lengths and split beans.
Packaging:
bundled according to length
250 grams per bundle
5 kilograms per Vacuum bag
25 kilograms per box
VANILLA BEANS ARE ORGANICALLY GROWN AND ARE HARVESTED AFTER 9 (NINE) MONTHS MATURITY PERIOD. THESE BEANS CAREFULLY UNDERGO A TWO (2)MONTH CONDITIONING PERIOD PRIOR TO EXPORT.
Vanilla Extract
Our company produces vanilla extract from "Extract" quality Vanilla Planifolia and Vanilla Tahitensis beans. The alcohol content of our vanilla extract is set at the USA FDA-approved 35%.
Currently, we package our vanilla extract for export in two types of 1-quart sized bottles. Bottle sizes and packaging, however, can always be customized to suit our clients' specifications.
