Increasing the aging of vanilla to maximize its flavors: it is the technological scientific bet of a young Israeli company that has already convinced a chef in Tel-Aviv.
For now, the young startup based in Or Yehuda, a suburb of Tel Aviv, is sourcing pods from farmers in Africa. The startup, Vanilla Vida, created in 2020, hopes that its greenhouses installed in northern Israel (a country with an arid climate) to recreate the tropical conditions that fruit needs to flourish, provide the raw material necessary for its operation.
In the industrial area, where white coats and charlottes are mandatory for employees, green pods are sorted according to their weight and placed in rooms with computer-controlled temperatures to complete drying and maturation, Very far from traditional techniques of drying in the open air for months, says Oren Zilberman, co-founder of the company.
The qualities, according to him: avoid the risks of rotting related to the climate, and above all, maximize the flavors. “We know how to create slightly different aromas through drying processes at varying temperatures, humidity and other factors…in the same way that you roast coffee differently to create varied aromas,” says Zilberman to AFP. “If you understand the metabolism, you can create a chocolate vanilla, caramelized vanilla, oaky vanilla, smoked, as the French prefer, or very sweet for the Americans,” says the CEO.
It has been set up a mechanized production, the green pods are transformed into racornis and fragrant grains in just a few weeks. The dried vanilla is then exported to Australia, Europe and the USA.
Vanilla Vida has also developed greenhouses to recreate the conditions that vanilla needs to flourish, but until the plants reach full size, the company imports fresh vanilla into its Yehuda Gold processing plant, a suburb of Tel Aviv.
Co-founder and CEO Oren Zilberman tells AFP that his company is undergoing a highly monitored aging process on the raw product. This allows it to extract the desired flavors, accelerate the drying process and eliminate the various risks associated with open air drying in tropical environments such as Indonesia or Madagascar, two major vanilla producers.
Through drying processes at certain temperatures, humidity and other variable elements, we know how to allow the plant to take a certain direction to create slightly different aromas, the same way you roast coffee differently to create different flavors,” says Zilberman.
“If you understand the metabolism, you can create chocolate vanilla, caramel vanilla, smoked woody vanilla as the French prefer, or very sweet vanilla for the Americans,” he added.
Among the other vanilla available commercially and the highly concentrated product of Vanilla Vida is “day and night,” says chef Yair Yosefi. The very well-known chef, Yaïr Yosefi, head of the Brut restaurant in Tel Aviv, uses it for his revisited Dhaka. And for him, the result is “magic”.
Vanilla is “delicious and rich” and powerful enough to release its taste at the low temperature that it uses to preserve the aromas and flavors of cherries, apricots and cucumbers in its dessert, which it assures remains the “greatest success” of its establishment.
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