Formerly known as Polano & Clarke CCCE, Sylvanilla® was born in February 2015, from few Vanilla vines growing wild in the family farm in the Nature Island of Dominica, and our meeting with other Caribbean Vanilla farmers, which quickly grew into a partnership with the most exceptional independent agroforestry vanilla farmers in the world to jointly promote more species and origins of vanilla pods from wild and agroforestry farms, regardless of the volume produced.
This impulse gave birth to Sylvanilla®, driven by the desire to fill the void on the market for the direct trade of agroforestry and terroir vanilla which was lacking until now. Since then, we're continuously learning everything about vanilla, soaking in its different terroirs, nourishing the generosity of our own terroir, training new vanilla farmers and organising vanilla cooking sessions with farmers, with chefs and professionals end-users as well as private customers, and cultivating the precious vines together with independents vanilla farmers, to cure and refine the exquise fruits with the aim of serving professional chefs, as well as all gourmets and vanilla lovers directly from wild vanilla crops and agroforestry farms to your kitchens and tables.
Sylve is the dense tropical forest which is the natural habitat of Vanilla, hence our name Sylvanilla®
READ OUR STORY, WHERE AND HOW IT STARTED
Sylvanilla® 's aim is to offer the naturally existing quality and diversity, directly from growers, guaranteeing complete traceability and contributing to the preservation of forests. Our agroforestry vanilla pods are the purest expression of nature, biodiversity, and the know-how of the local communities who cultivate the lianas. Our exceptional quality is the result of a respectful relationship in between cultivators. In between farmers we pay one another higher prices and premiums, and process a meticulous selection of the best gourmet vanilla pods only. Our vanilla pods are carefully harvested at full maturity, cured and refined for 6, 9, 12 to 24 months depending on the species and varieties, and rigorously selected for their powerful organoleptic profiles, and their complex combinations of unique flavors and aromas which make a huge difference. We are so confident in the superior quality of our vanilla beans that we stand behind our Premium Quality Guarantee. With Sylvanilla® you choose premium quality vanilla, respectful of the environment and local communities. Sylvanilla® goes beyond supplying Vanilla and works alongside the most exceptional vanilla cultivators to offer you the rarest and most exquisite vanilla beans directly from agroforestry.
Obviously farmers must have full control of their production and supply chain, and set their selling price according to the quality they provide and to the production cost they bear. By working together we can fix a worldwide benchmark price so that Vanilla market become farmers market, and not anymore buyers' one, and actually empower all farmers to reasonably live on the vanilla they produce and have the opportunity to cultivate different species of agroforestry vanilla of certified origins and quality, while contributing to the protection of the biodiversity and the promotion of our respectives terroirs.
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 planted, the terroir and the know-how of the cultivators. This potential is exploited during post-harvest operations, at harvest and during curing, maturation and fermentation, as well as during the drying and storage period, 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.
MORE ABOUT THE AGROFORESTRY VANILLA FARMS
Enjoy a selection of the vanilla pods we supply in Switzerland for the confections of Konfilili in Wädenswil, Choux etc, Briochou and La cuisine de Violaine in Zürich, the restaurants l'O and Lazzarone, May Chocolates, Delicious Bites by Enrica and Christy Crazy Cake in Horgen, at Super Premium Vanilla in Cham (Virgin Vanilla AG), by Fabio Ciotti in Ticino, in Noam Botanical Perfumes in Basel, Luzi AG in Dietlikon, La Route des Épices in Lutry, and Vibration Épices in Plan-les-Ouates; in France by Oranessence in Gaillefontaine, by Roellinger in Saint Malo, Cancale and Paris, at the Touósto restaurant and by Pascual bakeries in Rodez; in Guadeloupe at the restaurants La Kaz du douanier, La Savanne, Le Poisson rouge and L'Amer in Deshaies, at the Restaurant Les Muriers in Terre-de-Bas; in Morocco in the culinary creations of Fatema Hal and Restaurant La Cour des Lions in Marrakech, and many professional partners that you discover throughout our publications.
Sylvie Polano
Founder of Sylvanilla®