Our Sweet Side

Initially, co-founders Greg and Susy first purchased their small practice farm in Lahaina, there was much consideration around planting vanilla. After some research, they thought it to be a little more work than they thought they had the time for. Little did they know that growing specialty 100% Kona Coffee would also take a lot of hard work.

An orchid— Vanilla planifolia grows outdoors up to 25 degrees north or south of the equator. Hawai‘i is the only state where vanilla is commercially cultivated. A fleshy vine with aerial roots, vanilla likes to climb and in nature, reaches into the canopy of trees. Flowers are pale, yellowish green, and last about a day. Plants bloom once a year and the delicate blossom is viable for about four hours for pollination. It takes about nine months for the pod or bean to mature.

A fleshy vine with aerial roots, vanilla likes to climb and in nature, reaches into the canopy of trees. Flowers are pale, yellowish green, and last about a day.

Once ripe, the processing begins, a lengthy process that involves repeated, timed intervals of sweating and sun-drying of the beans, followed by storage in humidity-controlled rooms for an extended period of time. A tricky labor-intensive process.

The Olmeca people on the Gulf Coast of Mexico were perhaps the first to use vanilla as a flavoring in beverages. Before that, vanilla was used as a fragrance in temples and the flowers were placed inside amulets to protect the wearer from the evil eye. Vanilla first arrived in Hawaii in the late 1800s after the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy and cession to the United States. A nurseryman from London began experimenting with growing the plant in Oahu in the mid-1880s. With his success, many farmers throughout the islands began forming vanilla plantations of their own.

Now there are farms across the Big Island of Hawaii - even right here in Kailua Kona - growing and selling Hawaiian vanilla beans and other products on a commercial scale and offering vanilla farm tours much like the coffee farm tour offered on our small farm. We purchase vanilla beans from local growers to make a pure vanilla extract and vanilla sugar that we use in our own kitchen and share with our guests in our Ohana Farm Market.

When you come to visit Hawaii, both a coffee farm and vanillerie tour should be on your things to do in Hawaii bucket list.