Vanillary, Wailua (Fantasy Is) Falls

This morning, we drove inland 30 mins or so to a local vanillary. We had made a reservation for an 11am tour. It turned out to be a wonderful, hour long, experience. It was a couple’s private home. They grow vanilla which they harvest & sell, along with many other plants which they use themselves. They’ve just started to make chocolate bars from several cocoa trees they planted 15 years ago. We knew growing vanilla was a very labour intensive process, making it quite expensive. but we had no idea how much time and effort it took. They do everything by themselves, including pollinating each flower using a thorn, hand picking the bean pods after 10 months, soaking the pods for 18 days, drying the pods for 6 weeks, or more, grading the pods, cutting the pods into one inch pieces to add to the 80 proof vodka (to make the extract) for another 3 months. We purchased some dried beans & vanilla extract, & now have a contact to order more. We try to support local farmers/businesses where we can! We drove a short distance to view the waterfalls shown in the original Fantasy Island TV show, Wailua Falls.Read more