The star ingredient of the greatest perfumes, Vanilla holds a special place in the creation of our fragrances.
More than 80% of the world's vanilla is grown in Madagascar, more specifically in the Sava region in the northeast of the island. And it's here that you'll find its best-quality variety in the world: bourbon vanilla. With 12 million hectares of forest and 19,000 plant species, the island is considered a veritable "Garden of the World" and a biodiversity paradise. However, Madagascar is a very poor island, with almost 70,000 families economically dependent on vanilla production. Despite the rise in its price, farmers are struggling to meet their needs. Unfortunately, they are gradually turning away from vanilla production in favour of other, potentially more lucrative crops. The contrast between the country's rich biodiversity and its socio-economic reality is striking.
Faced with this situation, Adopt Parfums is committed to supporting the sustainable sourcing of Vanilla and the new generation of up-and-coming producers.
As proof of this commitment, in 2023 we have initiated a three-way partnership with the Maison de composition Symrise and the Maison Familiale Rurale (MFR) center in Madagascar. The main objective of this partnership lies inhelping the new generation of growers towards a more sustainable and responsible sourcing.
Concretely, and thanks to a dedicated funding program, we have committed to supporting 6 young people from rural MFR colleges in the Sava region.
This support will make it possible totrain this class of young people in innovative agricultural techniques, as well as the UEBT agricultural standards, which guarantee good practices respectful of people and biodiversity in the way natural ingredients are grown, collected, researched, processed and marketed. To complete this apprenticeship, we are financing the installation and start-up of their Vanilla plots over 3 years, in order to guarantee them a first harvest and a more prosperous future.
Vanilla comes from a plant, an orchid, which grows in the form of a liana. This liana can only start producing pods when it is 3 or 4 years old. Vanilla flowers need human hands to be pollinated and to bear fruit: it's the marieuses who carry out this meticulous process, based on ancestral know-how, flower by flower. It then takes 9 months for the vanilla pods to grow to 20 cm before they can be harvested.
The green pods are harvested. A long process of transformation began, culminating in the iconic Black Vanilla. First scalded for a few seconds to initiate the fermentation process, the pods are then laid out on trays in the open air, exposed to the sun for several weeks. It is during this exposure that their appearance changes, darkening until they become the famous Black Vanilla.
A true invitation to travel and a real tribute to this exceptional vanilla grown and prepared by hand from generation to generation in Madagascar by passionate producers.With Terre de Vanille let yourself be seduced by this bright, generous vanilla, bursting with smiles and obviously addictive. This authentic vanilla also reveals all its elegance through its woody, powdery facets.