Godfrey - VanillaPoint
'“It is my personal mission to prevent the exploitation of farmers by middlemen”
Vanilla beans | 3 pieces
€14,50
3 pods
Quantity
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Single Origin
Unsprayed
100% Spice
Short chain
The aroma of this vanilla is earthy and sweet, with notes reminiscent of milk chocolate
Add whole pods during the cooking process, for example, if you want to infuse a cream with the aromas. If you do this, first lightly crush the pods with a mortar and pestle to release more aromas.
Alternatively, split the vanilla pod open and scrape out the seeds. You can add the seeds to batters, sauces, dressings, etc. The remaining pod can be steeped in alcohol or sugar to make vanilla sugar or extract.
Vanilla pairs well with, among other things, carrots, cauliflower, parsnips, strawberries, plums, red berries, lobster, scallops, mussels, chocolate
A new shipment of saffron is expected at the end of June!
The aroma of Ugandan vanilla is earthy and sweet, with notes reminiscent of milk chocolate.
We do not import this vanilla ourselves; for this, we collaborate with 'VanillaPoint'. Owner Godfrey lives in the Netherlands and sources the vanilla pods directly from his family plantation in Uganda. This organization pays truly fair wages and actively works to strengthen the local community. The vanilla is regeneratively grown and completely free of pesticides. Sometimes other parties are already doing such a good job that we prefer to support each other rather than duplicate efforts.
How is this chain structured?
All our chains have their own story. Their own piece of land, their own farmer. It is grown and processed in a specific way. Join us on a journey into the story behind this taste.
This vanilla from VanillaPoint comes directly from owner Godfrey's family plantation.
Although Madagascar is best known for vanilla, Uganda has an excellent climate for vanilla. So good, in fact, that they can harvest twice a year (whereas vanilla is harvested only once a year in other countries). The vanilla beans are large, have a lot of vanillin and a lot of vanilla pulp.
The vanilla beans are grown regeneratively, without pesticides and chemicals, but with great care and attention.
Growth cycle: 6 months harvest in December and July
Dried: 9 months.
In Uganda, vanilla can be harvested twice a year: in December and July. Once the vanilla is ripe, a whole process of dipping, sweating, and drying is involved before the pods are ready for use. This takes about nine months!
Let's make an impact!
Each supply chain not only has its own story, but also its own challenges. We would like to share the impact we make on each chain and how we address specific challenges.
Through our collaboration with VanillaPoint, we show that things can be different and that high-quality vanilla can be grown sustainably with fair prices for farmers and local (seasonal) workers.
Generally, vanilla farmers have to deal with many middlemen who put pressure on prices and fluctuating prices. Farmers are often forced to sell their vanilla for too low a price or harvest prematurely—because they don't want to lose income or are afraid of theft.
Frequently asked questions
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Air, light, and moisture are detrimental to the quality of your spices. Therefore, store them in a well-sealed jar or tin that is opaque (or in a dark kitchen cabinet or drawer). Also, avoid storing them above your stove, as cooking fumes can reach them there. Always ensure that you transfer spices from a repack into a well-sealable jar or tin as quickly as possible.
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The shelf life of spices is primarily determined by the loss of flavor that occurs over time, as otherwise, they generally don't go bad. We use a shelf life of 2.5 - 3 years after harvest. This depends partly on the time of packaging and also whether they are whole spices that you have to grind yourself or pre-ground powder.
Spices in the supermarket are often already 2-3 years old before they are even packaged and then receive an expiration date of another 3-5 years. Above all, use your senses to assess if it's right. At some point, there will simply be no flavor left, which is a shame for that beautiful meal!
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We do not have organic certification, despite our spices meeting these standards. All farmers work in harmony with nature and without pesticides, but the certification process is unfortunately very expensive. For small farmers, it is actually unaffordable. And we want to show them that it is worthwhile to grow spices sustainably. That there are people willing to pay for a quality natural product and that they don't first have to make a huge, impossible investment in the form of certification.
Some of our farmers do have the certificate, by the way. Cooperatives, for example, can jointly apply for the certification process, making it much more affordable. But to be allowed to put this on the packaging, our entire chain would also have to be certified, including the Social Workshop where the spices are packaged. This is currently not possible, as they also work for other non-organic producers. So, in short: no, we are not officially certified, but the quality and way of working are at least as good.
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Single Origin means that a product comes from one specific place. Often, harvests from different places, sometimes even from different countries and different years, are mixed together. Traders do this to develop the cheapest possible product with a consistent taste. With us, you know exactly where your spices come from, right down to the name of the farmer. This also means that the quality can sometimes vary, as it is a natural product. For example, one year may be drier than another, which can lead to a change in taste. But our farmers always strive for the highest possible taste experience, and you can taste it!
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We always strive to purchase the latest harvest. Of course, it can sometimes happen that we still have some harvest in stock while the new harvest is already ready. So we cannot always guarantee that you will get the very latest harvest, but we do aim for it as much as possible. On the packaging, you will find a QR code leading to a page where you can find out exactly when your spices were harvested and when they were filled into the tins/bags. With this, we aim for complete transparency in our process.
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We ship to most European countries, but this will, of course, incur higher shipping costs. Would you like to order from a country that is not currently an option? Please contact us, so we can explore the possibilities.
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At Sociale Werkplaats Siza, they do their utmost to pack the parcels the day after the order. If it's busy, it might take an extra day. They don't work on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, so if you order on a Thursday, for example, it will take a bit longer before your parcel is shipped.
Once the parcels are ready, they are picked up by Groene Rijders and delivered by their bicycle couriers in the areas they serve, or outsourced to PostNL. Depending on how busy they are, they also aim to deliver within 1 working day.