Growing vanilla is a tedious task, as a little girl, I had my first taste of it when my dad brought back vanilla beans from a trip hunting for wild game in the Amazon rain forest.

A few years back I was in Papua, New Guinea visiting tea plantations and the word must have spread that I was looking to buy local ingredients, before you know it I was approached by two local villagers who were hawking their vanilla beans. Back then I was not interested in vanilla beans just spices and teas but I kept their phone numbers along with other farmers I met in the Bourbon Islands.

After saffron, vanilla is the world's second most expensive spice.

It is not easy to grow. The temperature where it is grown has to be right, it has to be pollinated by hand and there is a lengthy curing process.

Fresh green vanilla beans have no flavor or aroma, and the pods don't turn black until after they are cured. Vanilla is indispensable in desserts, such as creme brulee and cheesecakes, and think what this world would be like without good old vanilla ice cream.

Today we are offering four unique beans, because each I think lends itself to the flavors of their region.

Our Mexican is sweet and oh so flavorful with a hint of spice, as for the Comoro Bourbon its flavor is sublime, Bourbon vanilla is referred to Vanilla grown on the Bourbon Islands, which includes Madagascar, Reunion, Comoro and Seychelles.

Comes in our signature airtight tin, which measures 2-1/2 inches in diameter and 1-3/4 inches in height.