Spice
Bourbon Vanilla
S tier
Bourbon vanilla is planifolia cured in the Bourbon Island tradition—Réunion (formerly Île Bourbon), Madagascar, Comoros, and related western Indian Ocean origins. Beans are typically plump, dark, and richly creamy with classic vanillin sweetness and woody depth. The term is a process-and-origin style name, not a separate orchid species. The default “real vanilla” for ice cream, crème brûlée, and fine baking when recipes say Bourbon. Choose oily, flexible beans over dry sticks. Grade by length and appearance, but aroma after a fingernail scrape tells more than packaging claims. Avoid confusing with cheap “Bourbon-style” artificial flavours.
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Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
History
Vanilla cultivation and curing developed on Île Bourbon (Réunion).
Madagascar expanded Bourbon-method planifolia into the world’s volume centre.
Bourbon vanilla became the global premium label for Indian Ocean planifolia.
Price spikes and cyclone losses underscored Madagascar Bourbon supply fragility.