Formerly known as Polano & Clarke CCCE and Sylvanilla Inh. Polano, Sylvanilla® was born in February 2015, from few Vanilla vines growing in the family farm in the Nature Island of Dominica, and other Caribbean Vanilla farmers we've met, which quickly grew into a partnership with the most exceptional independent agroforestry vanilla farmers in the world to promote more species and origins of vanilla directly from agroforestry farms, regardless of the volume produced.

 

This impulse gave birth to Sylvanilla®, driven by professional expertise and the desire to fill the market with the direct trade of agroforestry and terroir vanilla which was lacking until then. Since we're continuously learning everything we can about vanilla, soaking in its different terroirs, nourishing the generosity of our own terroirs, training new vanilla farmers, organising vanilla markets and workshops with chefs and professionals end-users as well as private customers, and cultivating the precious vines to obtain the exquisite fruits with the aim to serve professional as well as private customers directly from the agroforestry farms.

 

Sylve is the dense tropical forest, which is the natural habitat of Vanilla, hence our name Sylvanilla®

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VISIT SYLVANILLA BOUTIQUE & THE VANILLA COLLECTIONS

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Sylvanilla® 's aim is to offer the naturally existing quality and diversity of Vanilla directly from farmers, first to improve their incomes while guaranteeing complete traceability, and contributing to the preservation of forests. Agroforestry vanilla pods are the purest expression of nature, biodiversity, and the know-how of the local communities who cultivate the vanilla vines. The exceptional quality we supply is the result of a respectful relationship between cultivators. We procure vanilla pods carefully cultivated and harvested at full maturity, cured and refined for 6, 9, 12 to 24 months depending on the species and varieties, kept under monitored observation for 28 days, and rigorously selected for their powerful organoleptic profiles and complex combinations of unique flavours and aromas.

 

Pioneer of Vanillology, Sylvanilla® inspires vanilla cultivators and vanilla specialists in Paris, Geneva, Lausanne, Zurich and increasingly across international markets, as well as professionals in the culinary and fragrance worlds who seek exceptional vanilla defined by provenance, character, and excellence. Rooted in a wide-ranging curiosity, Sylvanilla® values field expertise and ideas over notoriety, convinced that true progress comes from exploring concepts, possibilities, and nuance with perspective, rigor, and discernment. Perspective nurtures deeper thinking and meaningful innovation. Sylvanilla® goes beyond supplying vanilla, working alongside exceptional independent vanilla cultivators to offer chefs, artisans, perfumers, and specialty brands in Switzerland and worldwide, a curated selection of the rarest and most exquisite vanilla pods sourced directly from vanilla farms all around the world.

 

Within Sylvanilla® network the vanilla farmers have full control of their sales price, which is aligned to the quality they provide and to their production cost. We also share transparently how the value of vanilla circulate within Sylvanilla®. By working together we stand a better chance to set a worldwide benchmark price and implement a pricing table that actually empower vanilla farmers all over the world, allow them to live on the vanilla they produce, to invest in their farm and wherever they wish to, to cultivate different and endemic species of agroforestry vanilla if they wish, while contributing to the protection of the forests biodiversity and to their community, and to the promotion of the actually existing diversity of vanilla terroirs all over the world.

 

The Terroir is the set of characteristics imbued in a crop based on the environment in which it is grown, and it affects cocoa, coffee, and vanilla in the same way it affects wine grapes. Each vanilla has a potential intrinsic quality which depends on the species cultivated, the terroir and the know-how of the cultivators. This potential is expressed through post-harvest processing — including curing and its enzymatic, biochemical and microbial transformations — followed by drying, conditioning, refining and storage, and each gesture of the cultivator has an impact on the precious pods which over days and months reveal the complex and unique character of their respective organoleptic profile, which is intrinsic to their respective terroir.​​​​

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THE AGROFORESTRY VANILLA FARMS*​​

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*Because vanilla attracts considerable covetousness, and greater visibility also increases exposure to malicious intent, some pages of this website are exclusively reserved for members only.

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Sylvie Polano

Founder of Sylvanilla®​