Amazing and special: Dutch vanilla is now available to buy

Vanilla is one of the most expensive spices in the world. In their kitchens, chefs and pastry chefs prefer to use only the crème de la crème of the brown pods. These often come from tropical countries such as Madagascar and Mexico, but we have a first: there is now also vanilla grown locally: Nedervanille.

Koppert Cress, the company where many top chefs get their products, is launching its exclusive range of Dutch premium-quality Planifolia vanilla for the first time this year. This vanilla comes from an orchid species that produces pods only after growing for three years. Quite rare and costly pods, then.

Exceptionally intense

The vanilla comes in three varieties: Green, Black and Red Planifolia. The green pods are picked directly from the plant and are intended to be dried—or, more accurately, ‘cured’—at home, while giving them additional aromas by, for example, fermenting the pod. The black variety is a cured bean, dark in color, with a full vanilla flavor and can be used immediately. Just like the red variety, which has remained on the plant longer and therefore has an even more distinctive and intense flavor.

Holland’s glory

Master Pastry Chef Hidde de Brabander has already tasted the vanilla and is extremely enthusiastic. ‘A beautiful, full, thick pod with plenty of contents, lots of aroma and a high glucovanillin content.’ For now, the Dutch vanilla is available only to the country’s top chefs. Hopefully it will soon be available to home bakers too, so you can leave that shriveled-up supermarket variety on the shelves.

Also read:

• How to easily make vanilla extract yourself
• Vanilla: pods, extract and flavoring
• Recipe: little apple pies with vanilla

Source and image: Koppert Cress