Researchers University of Florida believe that this state is an excellent place to grow a plant that produces one of the most popular flavors on the planet, the vanilla.
MiamiDiario Newsroom
Vanilla is one of the most requested flavors by lovers of good food because many consider it to give certain foods a very subtle and particular touch.
The reality is that a vanilla bean is something exotic, it is not well known that it is the only edible fruit of the orchid family, and an essential ingredient in a large number of treats that are consumed during the holiday season such as Christmas cookies, Hanukkah sufukiyot (fried doughnuts) or eggnog, whose version in Miami is the coquito, detailed chipleypaper.com.
Most of the natural vanilla consumed in Florida comes primarily from Madagascar, demand far exceeds supply.
After analyzing the state's environment and comparing it to places where vanilla is grown, researchers from the University of Florida believe that the south of the state is an ideal place to grow this exotic plant.
To the Professor of Horticultural Sciences at the Center for Tropical Research and Education at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), Allan Chambers, "Vanilla likes moisture, it likes heat, so South Florida is a great location for this crop."
Chambers has three years growing more than 100 varieties of vanilla, analyzes its yield, resistance to diseases and taste. It now offers growers in South Florida information on how to start a crop that could rival the quality of vanilla from Madagascar, where more than 70 percent of the world's supply is produced.
The goal is for South Florida to become a niche market that supplies local restaurants, bakeries and other businesses with state-grown vanilla.
Vanilla Farming in Florida
Nowadays 90 producers They have communicated with Professor Chambers to find out the information he handles and discover the secrets of vanilla cultivation.
One of the characteristics of vanilla flowers is that they only they bloom one day a year for a few hours, that's when they must be hand-pollinated to produce the beans.
Once harvested, green beans must be soaked in hot water and dried. They are wrapped in woolen blankets and stored in airtight containers in a warm place for about two weeks. Then the beans must be dried in the sun for two months. The process is all manual.
Growers must be careful with the rain as it can disrupt the curing process, plus excess moisture can create mold on crops.
It should be noted that the concentrated production of natural vanilla in a single country is the main reason why prices are sometimes so high. Despite this, flavoring companies are willing to pay up to $600 per kilogram of this product.
Vanilla prices can vary widely due to the plant's unpredictable pollination results, lack of infrastructure to ensure consistent production, and weather events such as cyclones that occasionally wipe out crops in Madagascar.
South Florida has hurricanes and some of the highest labor costs in the United States, these characteristics would make large-scale vanilla production expensive. But Chambers thinks that better production facilities could mean that local crops could produce more beans than plants in Madagascar.
Also, vanilla doesn't require a lot of space and can be grown with other trees tropical fruit trees such as avocado, for example. It also works well when vanilla vines are planted under the shade of taller fruit trees.
Right now, no one is producing it commercially, but small batches will probably be ready to sell in two or three years.
Natural Vanilla Lawsuit
Demand for natural vanilla is growing as more food companies commit to phasing out artificial flavors in response to consumer pressure. In 2015, a number of food companies including Nestle, Kellogg's, Hershey's and General Mills promised to eliminate the use of much cheaper and more readily available artificial vanilla from foods sold in the United States.
Vanilla pods
Vanilla extract, produced by steeping cured vanilla beans in alcohol, is used -mainly- to to bake and aromatize food, but it also has other applications, one of which is as a remedy natural antimicrobial, and is currently being tested as a treatment for sickle cell anemia. In the cosmetic industry, they add vanilla to make the fragrances be sweet