Plantations: New Zealand

Vanilla in Tauranga, New Zealand – breaking all the ‘vanilla’ rules.

Vanilla grows in a narrow tropical band around the equator that certainly doesn't come close to New Zealand. They told us we couldn't grow it in New Zealand - "why not" we said! Our first generation vanilla plant was imported from Tonga in tissue culture and going against the odds was never going to be easy, but using geothermal hot water meant that we could emulate Tonga-like heat and humidity in our tunnel house. The first 2009 three kilogram harvest was rare and precious when compared to the 1.5 tonne annual harvest from Tonga.

Throughout 2010 the precious three kilogram crop was picked, cured, dried, extracted, aged, filtered, bottled as Heilala Vanilla New Zealand Extract and labelled before finally being ready for a handpicked few chefs and food industry insiders to sample, savour and ENJOY.