Uganda - Ndali Estate

"We have been using Ndali Vanilla in the River Cottage kitchen for some weeks now, and I can confidently say it is some of the best I have ever come across. The pods arrive beautifully supple and are bursting with tiny sticky seeds. The scent is rich and intense, and the flavour deep, long lasting and absolutely true"
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Ndali Estate is run by Lulu Sturdy a British woman who took over the running of the Estate from her uncle in 1999. Ndali is a 1,000 acre mixed tropical farm on the rich soils of the Ndali volcanic field, set amongst the crater lakes and volcanoes of western Uganda and overshadowed by the Mountains of the Moon. Ndali grow and cure their own vanilla and also buy Fairtrade green vanilla for curing from over 600 other Ugandan farmers. Ndali Fairtrade vanilla guarantees the farmers a fairtrade price based on the cost of production and a fair profit margin, plus a premium paid on top which is reinvested in the community (such as building a school).

All Ndali farmers also receive sales commissions from Ndali branded vanilla purchases. This translates to approximately £6/kg of cured vanilla. Fairtrade vanilla is now especially relevant in sustaining and boosting farmers' incomes as FOB vanilla prices have crashed since the dramatic peaks in prices experienced in 2003 and 2004.

Ndali Quality and Curing Technique

No pesticides, herbicides or artificial fertilisers are used in growing Ndali Vanilla and likewise there are no additives used in the curing process: just 100% natural vanilla.

Ndali vanilla is consistently high in vanillin - ranging between 2.2 and 4.5% on a dry basis. Vanillin percentages upwards of 2% are considered good; 3% is excellent. If vanilla is harvested immature and inappropriately processed vanillin contents can be as low as 0.5%. While Ndali buy some vanilla from the lower plains of the western rift valley, much of their vanilla comes from the high altitude slopes of the Mountains of the Moon in the volcanic foothills at 1,450m. Beans from these regions are slower to grow, taking one to two months longer to mature than their lower altitude neighbours. Results are beginning to show that while yields from these higher regions are generally lower, the quality of bean is greater: their vanillin (vanilla flavour) is more concentrated through stress… much like the best quality but less prolific tea comes from the highest altitudes.

Harvested when ripe, the green-to-yellowish beans are first immersed in hot water, then wrapped in blankets and sweated for 48 hours in insulated boxes. This stimulates the chemical processes involved in breaking down gluco-vanillin into vanillin through fermentation. For the next 14-60 days (depending on bean size and moisture content) the beans are daily bought out into the sunshine to dry and then returned to insulated boxes to sweat. Exposure to the sun will gradually be reduced from a few hours to just 30 minutes. A knowledgeable curer will judge drying times by bean appearance. Too long in the sunshine and the beans dry out, too little and they lack aroma, are prone to mould and may have a low vanillin content. Drying should be taken as slowly as possible to obtain the best aroma. Thereafter, reduced to a moisture content of 25-30%, the beans are tightly packed in wooden boxes to mature further for 1-3 months (or longer if need be). Kept in this way vanilla will continue to mature and improve in flavour much like a fine wine. The resulting bean is wrinkled and chocolate coloured. Its flavour and odour comes partially from a white crystal, vanillin, which develops during the curing process on beans of exceptional quality.