A shortage of vanilla has bean counters across Australia reeling.
Twelve months ago the price of vanilla beans (which are actually seed pods from a type of orchid) was around US$200 per kilogram. Today it’s US$650.
The surge comes in the wake of Cyclone Enawo, which swept through Madagascar earlier in the year killing 78 people, wounding 250 and displacing a further 250,000. Enawo tore through the country’s cash crop, destroying entire plantations and robbing many families of an income.
Madagascar (where vanilla crops are so valuable they’re sometimes stored under armed guard) produces around 80 per cent of the world’s vanilla. It is estimated 30 per cent of the current crop was destroyed in the storm.
The price-hike has already forced some restaurants to tweak recipes, or even drop items from their menus. In Adelaide, Cliché restaurant manager Nathan Nababan has revised his dessert offering. “Vanilla brûlée is a classic French dessert and one of our bestsellers,” he tells Broadsheet. “With prices the way they are, we’ve had to replace it with a lemonthyme brûlée – for the time being.”
Chef Donato Toce (Gelato Messina) says he is absorbing the additional cost and that Messina wouldn’t compromise its recipe. “What we use is Heilala 5-fold extract, which is five times stronger than a normal extract, so it was already expensive,” he says. “There is nothing that would create the same flavour or quality – so nothing worth using in our book.”
Seasonal variation – in quality and supply – is something chefs deal with all year round, across many supply chains. “It is something we have to wear … like pistachio or hazelnut, we use real ingredients which are expensive, and we produce large quantities per annum,” Toce says.
Heilala Vanilla, the New Zealand-based company that supplies Messina, is in lock down. Jennifer Boggiss, the company’s export liaison, is turning away business to protect existing clients. “We’re not currently taking on any new customers for vanilla-bean products,” she says.
“We have had to pass on price rises to customers (around 150 per cent over the last 18 months) … versus the increase in the cost of vanilla beans [which] has increased 220 per cent over the same period,” she explains.
Small businesses are being hit hardest by the shortage. “Ninety-eight per cent of vanilla used globally – in soft drinks and pre-made food – is artificial [vanilla essence],” says Boggiss. “It’s the premium food manufacturers that use real vanilla products – chefs and home bakers who care about the flavour.
“As a small grower and producer [Heilala Vanilla owns plantations in Tonga], we pride ourselves on producing quality vanilla products by way of sensible and fair purchasing. These times are both frustrating and challenging for us.”
Like other agricultural industries, vanilla farming is incredibly volatile, with weather being the dominant influence. While end users are paying exorbitant prices, producers remain vulnerable, not knowing if or when their next crop will arrive. "It’s not like they’re rolling around in limos,” says Boggiss.
There are also fears desperate growers may start offloading immature and storm-damaged pods to make ends meet, introducing low-grade product to the market.
“In Madagascar, green vanilla beans near roads or populated areas have already been harvested … to reduce the risk of theft,” Boggiss says. It’s estimated this may deplete the next crop by more than 30 per cent and create a further shortage, with even higher prices.
But don’t worry, ice-cream lovers. Toce isn’t changing his offering. “You just can’t have a gelato store without vanilla.”
