A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure of meeting a young couple who are in a rather unusual line of work. In their ripe old late twenties, these two are importing family-farmed, fair trade vanilla beans from Madagascar. The quality of these Bourbon vanilla beans is beautiful, the aroma absolutely intoxicating, and the price is incredibly low. To this end, by importing directly from the farmers and the farming cooperatives they cut out the fees that, by their accounts, can be incurred by the vanilla passing through up to nine middlemen before leaving the country!
Sarah and Nat Delafield happened into our shop one night two weeks ago, and I have been totally taking ever since. I was very interested in the story of the development of their business and the work they're still doing in helping to increase the farmers' awareness of the value of their crops and understanding of how to benefit from it more directly.
That's not to mention the wave of intensely perfumed air that wafted my way when Sarah opened up a one pound bag of fresh, sticky, gorgeous dark brown beans. The aromas were of vanilla, for sure, but reached deeper to cocoa, spices, and a heady breath of brandy. After an excited rush of words and emotions about these beans, they let me sample a few for myself. I tried a few desserts, where the more pronounced and defined vanilla flavor in these fresh beans blew away any thought of going back to store-bought extracts. Even if, for some reason, I ever find myself without these magic beans, a potent extract can be stashed away at home by dropping two or three beans into a small bottle of high quality vodka.
I'll include a few recipes that I tested out in my upcoming September newsletter, which will appear here shortly. In the meantime, check out Sarah and Nat's informative website at http://www.ftftrading.com/. There you can find out more about the farmers, the vanilla plants themselves, and how to purchase some of these delicious beans.
See you soon...
©2007, Alex Meier-Tomkins/Pine Street Kitchen
Sarah and Nat Delafield happened into our shop one night two weeks ago, and I have been totally taking ever since. I was very interested in the story of the development of their business and the work they're still doing in helping to increase the farmers' awareness of the value of their crops and understanding of how to benefit from it more directly.
That's not to mention the wave of intensely perfumed air that wafted my way when Sarah opened up a one pound bag of fresh, sticky, gorgeous dark brown beans. The aromas were of vanilla, for sure, but reached deeper to cocoa, spices, and a heady breath of brandy. After an excited rush of words and emotions about these beans, they let me sample a few for myself. I tried a few desserts, where the more pronounced and defined vanilla flavor in these fresh beans blew away any thought of going back to store-bought extracts. Even if, for some reason, I ever find myself without these magic beans, a potent extract can be stashed away at home by dropping two or three beans into a small bottle of high quality vodka.
I'll include a few recipes that I tested out in my upcoming September newsletter, which will appear here shortly. In the meantime, check out Sarah and Nat's informative website at http://www.ftftrading.com/. There you can find out more about the farmers, the vanilla plants themselves, and how to purchase some of these delicious beans.
See you soon...
©2007, Alex Meier-Tomkins/Pine Street Kitchen
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