It's vanilla bean harvest day!

spooksolotl

It's vanilla bean harvest day! After growing vanilla vines in various places for various years and finally getting some flowers in a place I could reach (as opposed to high up in a tree), then hand-pollinating them with the right technique, then waiting for the pods to reach full size over a couple months, then letting the pods ripen on the vine for 9 months, they're finally ready to harvest!

I'll be using this thread to track the rest of the process.

So, how did I know when to harvest? According to this blog post: https://vanillery.com/ripe-green-vanilla-pods/ they are ready to harvest when the bottoms are yellow and just starting to crack. I've included pics below showing my pods this morning when I decided to harvest.

Pic 1: yellow on the bottom
Pic 2: yellow on bottom and just starting to split
Pic 3: further splitting, with seeds visible inside. I smelled this one at the place where it was opening, and it smelled fantastic - like vanilla.

Next steps described in next posts...

1/

#vanilla #orchids #plants #hawaii #food

spooksolotl

The first step in vanilla pod processing is to "kill" the bean via boiling or freezing.

I don't have a freezer, so I decided to submerge in boiled water for 3-5 mins.

Instructions here: https://www.vanillapura.com/blogs/vanilla-extract-making-101/how-to-cure-vanilla-beans-at-home-a-step-by-step-guide
And here: https://www.kingson-foodtech.com/en/a4-11232-16797/The-Journey-of-Vanilla-Beans-Vanilla-Bean-Processing.html

Pic 1: beans in boiled water (not on the flame - just in water that I boiled).
Pic 2: after boiling, I laid them out and dried them with a towel.

2/

#vanilla #plants #food #hawaii #orchids

spooksolotl

After patting the vanilla pods dry, I wrapped them in towels and packed them in an insulated cooler bag with a hot water bottle, wrapped in more towel.

This is the beginning of the "sweating" stage that lasts 10-14 days. The will spend evenings wrapped up with a hot water bottle in an insulated cooler bag, and they will spend daytime drying in the sun.

See process description here: https://www.kingson-foodtech.com/en/a4-11232-16797/The-Journey-of-Vanilla-Beans-Vanilla-Bean-Processing.html
And here: https://www.vanillapura.com/blogs/vanilla-extract-making-101/how-to-cure-vanilla-beans-at-home-a-step-by-step-guide

Pic 1: I wrapped the pods in their little towels, then packed them in an insulated cooler bag that was lined with a big folded towel.
Pic 2: I put a hot water bottle on top, wrapped it all up in the big towel, and zipped up the cooler bag.

The will stay like this till tomorrow (I'll keep an eye on the water bottle and refill with hot water as necessary), then will set to sun dry during the daytime tomorrow.

3/

#vanilla #orchids #plants #food #hawaii