What do we do?

We sell Vanilla Beans. We sell them in a bunch of 10 beans for S$15. Vanilla beans are used mainly for making desserts. They have this wonderful aroma and aftertaste. Even if you do not use it for cooking, you can also use the beans as air fresheners.

For cooking, there are plenty of recipes on the Internet that will teach you how to make delicious desserts with Vanilla Beans. If you wish to buy them, do email us.

Attached is a picture on how our Vanilla Beans look like. For more info, do have a look at our FAQ section located below.
If there is a question you have that is not in the FAQ, do email us at vanillalicious@gmail.com. We will be more than happy to help you out.

Recipes for making Vanilla Extract

METHOD OF EXTRACTION

Extraction methods are simple and just require time.

Normal vanilla extract you find in stores are extracted from Lignum, wood. They comprise only of 3 different flavour compounds of Vanillin. Real vanilla beans comprise over 250 flavour compounds. When you use extract, yes, you are eating wood, chemically extracted wood!

For pure vanilla extract, here is the extraction method.

(1) You need only 2 ingredients, vanilla beans and alcohol of around 35% strength. Vodka is the best as it has no taste

(2) Split vanilla beans with a knife and scrape all the seeds into the vodka

(3) Stuff all the empty, split beans into the vodka (The bean shell has flavours and aromatic oils too!)

(4) Cover with the bottlecap and place in the fridge for minimum 4 weeks, 6 months is the best and vanilla extract gets better with age, like wine!

(5) If possible give the whole thing a vigourous shake once or twice a day for 2 weeks - Industrial manufacturers have a rotating thingy that circulates the alcohol

(6) Your vodka will turn from white to dark black. That is pure vanilla extract.


VANILLA EXTRACT RECIPES

Before you start, bear in mind the following and decide for yourself which you want. Vanilla extract is divided into several categories of strength.

(1) 1-Fold Vanilla is - 100grams of vanilla beans to 1000grams (1 ltr) of alcohol. Need about 20 beans

(2) 2-Fold Vanilla is - 200 grams of vanilla to 1000grams of alcohol. Need about 40 beans

(3) 3-Fold Vanilla is - 300 grams of vanilla to 1000 grams of alcohol. Need about 60 beans

(4) 4 - Fold Vanilla is - 400 grams of vanilla to 1000 grams of alcohol. Need about 80 beans

Bear in mind that each vanilla bean is around 4 to 5 grams and you can halve or quarter the recipe. A good way to make it economical is for you to get foodie friends/relatives to combine and make one big batch and share.

Professional chefs in Europe use 2-Fold or 3-Fold vanilla but pastry supply houses here only sell 1 fold vanilla and they usually contain vanilla flavourings and are extracted from C-grade beans which are not that ripe. Quality in, quality out.

Frequently Asked Questions About Garaja Vanilla!

What are vanilla beans?

Vanilla Beans are the long, greenish-yellow seed pods of the tropical orchid plant, Vanilla planifolia.

What can they be used for?

Vanilla is one of the most popular flavourings in the world. It is used in flavouring most desserts, including ice cream, custard, cake, candy, and pudding. Vanilla is also used to enhance the flavor of beverages and sauces.

What kind of vanilla beans do you sell?

We sell GARAJA Royal Vanilla Tahitensis Beans from Irian Jaya in Papua New Guinea. These beans are fermented using the Bourbon method. In short, it is done using processes perfected hundreds of years ago.

Hand picked for quality, they are a minimum 17cm (7 inches) long and fully ripened at 9 months on the vine. Longer beans = Ripe Beans = More Flavour. Garaja beans are black in colour, fat, moist and oily, indicating freshness and quality

What is the difference between Planifolia, Bourbon and Tahitensis beans?

There are 2 main types of vanilla used for culinary purposes, Vanilla Planifolia and Vanilla Tahitensis.

Depending on who you ask, either one is better or worse than the other. The general consensus is that Planifolia is not as floral or aromatic as Tahitensis and that Tahitensis is not as flavourful as Planifolia.

These are contradicting beliefs and we subscribe to none of them. Basically, by saying your beans are Planifolia beans, you can charge a higher price. This is similar to people preferring ‘French’ Vanilla beans sold at ridiculous prices. That is a vanilla bean that has enjoyed a European holiday. That said, I have seen Planifolia beans from Europe that LOOK like Grade B Tahitensis beans and devoid of flavour. If you are not a scientist or botanist, you will not be able to tell the difference. Period.

History places Philippines in the centre of vanilla cultivation for it is here that the Spanish had a vanilla research facility in the 1800s. It is from here that Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Reunion Islands and Tahiti got their plants.

The difference in beans is up to you to decide. For me, the bigger, the oilier, the better.

How can do I store the vanilla beans?

Keep the beans in an airtight container or ziplock bag and keep it in your fridge. Kept this way, it can be stored for 12 months. Do not worry if you see whitish powder on the surface of the beans for those are vanillin crystals. As they warm up, they will melt and get reabsorbed into the bean.

How do I use vanilla beans?

The entire bean is filled with flavour. You can cut the bean and use a portion at a time or you can use the whole bean, depending on the depth of flavour you wish. To cut open a bean, lay it flat on a cutting surface. Holding one end of the bean to the surface, carefully slice the bean open lengthwise. When you separate the bean, thousands of tiny seeds are exposed. Put the bean into your pot and enjoy the wonderful aroma and flavour.

After using the beans can I do more with them?

Sure! Professional chefs make their beans go a long way. After using them, they wash the empty beans and dry them in the oven or in the sun. Once dried, you can either grind it up and mix it with your sugar or just place the dried pod into your sugar. Any flavour left in the beans will continue to perfume your sugar. Alternatively, use the dried pots as decorations on your desserts or cakes during parties!

How do I purchase vanilla beans from you?

You can email me the quantity (1 bunch = 10 vanilla beans) you want and I can do COD. If you want it sent via post, we can work something out.

How much will it cost?

1 bunch of 10 beans costs S$15.

Any discount if I buy more?

Sure, we love to do bulk purchase. Please email me to discuss further.

Can I purchase just 1 bean from you?

It is more economical to purchase 1 bunch of 10 beans. After you’ve discovered the joy of cooking with vanilla beans, you’d want to carry on and 1 bean is just not enough.

Why are your beans cheaper than other places?

Our beans are not cheap. We pay a fair price for them. However, our beans do not have the cost of a European holiday or EU wages tagged to it.

We get our beans directly from a farming cooperative. We pay a higher price for our beans to get the best they have. We are happy to do that because we know that the farmers are getting the money, not some company treating farmers as slaves.

Isn’t it weird that vanilla sold here travels halfway across the world to come back to the tropics when it is grown just next door to us?