For cooks and chefs
Vanilla beans, grown and cured in Bangkok
How vanilla beans are graded, how to tell a good one from a tired one, and how kitchens can reserve beans from our first harvest.
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Grade A vs Grade B vanilla beans
Grade A vanilla beans are plump, glossy and moist, and are best for splitting and scraping into custards, ice cream and pastry. Grade B beans are drier and less pretty, and are best for extract, vanilla sugar and infusions. The grade describes moisture and appearance, not how good the vanilla tastes.
| Grade A | Grade B | |
|---|---|---|
| Also called | Gourmet, prime | Extract grade |
| Moisture | Higher, typically about 30–35 % | Lower, typically about 15–25 % |
| Look and feel | Plump, glossy, supple enough to tie in a knot | Drier, thinner, sometimes split or uneven |
| Length | Usually 14 cm or longer (ours: 14–18 cm) | Often shorter |
| Best for | Splitting and scraping: custards, ice cream, pastry | Extract, vanilla sugar, infusions |
| Share of our harvest (target) | About 60 % | About 30 % |
Because Grade B beans have lost more water, a kilo of them holds more vanilla by weight, which is why extract makers prefer them. If a recipe asks you to scrape the seeds, pick Grade A.
How to spot a good vanilla bean
- It bends. A good Grade A bean is supple enough to wrap around your finger without cracking.
- It shines. A light oily gloss is a good sign. A dull, papery bean has dried out.
- It smells of vanilla straight away. You should not need to split it to smell it.
- White crystals are fine; white fuzz is not. Tiny sparkling crystals on the surface are natural vanillin, called givre, and are a sign of a well-cured bean. Soft, fuzzy white or grey patches are mould.
How to store vanilla beans
Wrap them in wax or baking paper, put them in an airtight jar or bag, and keep them somewhere cool and dark. Skip the fridge: it dries them out and can encourage mould. Stored this way, beans keep their aroma for many months. If one does dry out, it still works well in sugar or extract.
Our beans
Our beans are Vanilla planifolia, hand-pollinated and cured on our family-owned farm in Bangkok. We aim for about 60 % Grade A (14–18 cm, supple) and 30 % Grade B, which goes into our own vanilla sugar. Every batch is logged from vine to jar.
Vanilla beans for kitchens
We sell cured beans by the kilo to a small list of pastry kitchens, hotels and chocolatiers. There is no public price yet because the size of our first harvest is not known yet. Tell us what you make and roughly how much you use, and we will hold an allocation for you.
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