Our Guaranteed Vanillas - Part 2 - From refining to distribution

Open-air drying of vanilla pods LAVANY scalded at our Manambato Refining Station in Madagsacar

Refining Vanilla LAVANY

Burning of green pods of Vanille LAVANY Bourbon de Madagascar
Burning of green Vanilla pods
Foaming after scalding
Foaming after scalding

Six-step refining will allow us to transform green pods into Vanillas LAVANY refined into four categories: black GOURMET, brown or TK, red and cuts.

These Vanillas are also marketed under the name Vanilla Bourbon of Madagascar.

  • Scalding within 48 hours of harvest, the green spice is plunged once into hot water at controlled temperature for a few Instants. This operation clearly stops the plant life of the pod.

  • Stowing after draining, pods wrapped in blankets called "gony " are put in wooden oven. For about 48 hours, Vanilla cooled to room temperature. The pod begins to take its chocolate brown color so characteristic.

  • Open-air drying - the pods spread naturally dry in the sun and in the Indian Ocean. To avoid fermentation, they are regularly and frequently hand-disaggregated. The pods become more and more brown as they dissect, sometimes covering themselves with shiny frost.

  • Skilled labour force it is necessary to carry out this long operation correctly, as the drying spans several weeks and is totally dependent on sunlight. At night, the Vanilla is stored away from moisture.

  • During this totally traditional process, not mechanized, the harvest reduced by 75%, and as we practice it the natural dehydration of the Vanille LAVANY is the essential and most delicate step of all treatment of the pod. It is the only guarantee of its olfactory, aromatic, taste qualities and its ability to preserve itself for several years.

  • Customised - we are able to prepare the Vanilla according to the particular requirements of the professionals: humidity, length, concentration.

Open-air drying of scalded pods Vanille LAVANY Bourbon de Madagascar
Open-air drying of scalded pods
Measurement of refined pods of Vanille LAVANY Bourbon de Madagascar
Measurement of refined Vanilla pods
Wood mall for the storage of refined pods
Wood mall for the storage of refined pods

Our ancestral vanillier know-how guarantees the constant quality of our pods throughout the year. We master the four professions of the Vanille sector: Planter, Refiner, Exporter and Distributor.

  • Wood trunking - pods are stored for several months in sulphurized paper. The perfume appears late, it refines during this period. The trunks continue to lose water. They are checked weekly, and the pods are removed.

  • Calibration - flexible to point, perfectly developed aroma, pods of Vanille LAVANY are sorted, measured, calibrated according to their quality. They are tied in their middle in boots of the same length with a single strand of raftia.

  • Packaging - after a final quality control, the perfectly formed boots are traditionally wrapped in sulphurised paper, lined in cardboard boxes, for storage and transport.

  • Analysis - for each crop, before placing on the market, we control various parameters by means of analyses with approved laboratories: determination of the rate of Vanillin and control of microbiology.


The full production cycle of the Vanille LAVANY from manual pollination of the flower to air shipment is at least fifteen months.

Calibration of refined Vanilla
Calibration of refined Vanilla
LAVANY Vanillas prepared to measure
Custom-made valves

The Vanilla Distribution LAVANY

25 kg carton boxes of refined Vanilla ready for export
25 kg carton boxes of refined Vanilla ready for export
Air Madagascar the carrier of the Vanillas LAVANY Bourbon of Madagascar
Air Madagascar the carrier of the Vanillas LAVANY

The Malagasy Vanilla must contribute fully to Madagascar's economic development.

The Malagasy government, associated with the professionals of the Vanille sector, decides on the authorized date of start of export of the last harvest in order to guarantee the quality of preparation of Malagasy Vanillas.

Vanilla LAVANY markets only Vanillas Planifolia Andrews from our plantations in Madagascar.

We do not sell any other Vanilla Planifolia Andrews grown in other parts of the World ...

That is why we guarantee the traceability of the Lavany Bourbon Vanillas from Madagascar alone.

" From planter to consumer without intermediary "

  • Export - ready Vanillas are exported according to Malagasy regulations in cardboard standard by plane and stored at our premises in ALBI - France.

  • Distribution - before each delivery, the pods of Vanille LAVANY are controlled one by one and are packed according to customers' needs, vacuumed in transparent food-grade sachets by 250 grams or under blistering by 2 or 10 glass tube pods with hermetic closure for retail sale.

All facilities managed by the RANJA family in Madagascar and by Vanille LAVANY in France have been certified for four years AB - Organic fFarming by logo Ecocert certification des Vanilles LAVANY Bourbon de Madagascar

THE FOLLOW-UP ... ON PART 1 - FROM CULTURE TO RECOLT