The Real Price of Vanilla Ice Cream – Can Chromatography Help the Farmers

Sitting on the beach eating a ‘99’. What image conjures up a pleasant feeling of a carefree summer? A crisp cone filled with vanilla with a chocolate flake sticking out of the top. A little bit of heaven for many people – especially if the ice cream is rich and creamy with the delicate flavour of real vanilla. The cost of a ‘99’ is between £1 and £2 – depending on where you live. But what price do the vanilla growers pay to bring us what is arguably one of the highlights of a UK summer?

Vanilla – little pods of comfort

The use of vanilla as a flavouring in food is started with the Aztecs – and was introduced into Europe after the Spanish conquered the Americas in the sixteenth century. Vanilla pods are a fruit that come from orchids that have been pollinated. Early attempts to introduce the flowers to Europe floundered, as the difficulties in pollinating the flowers couldn’t be overcome. Eventually, this problem was solved and vanilla can be grown in other parts of the world – including Madagascar, the modern centre of the vanilla industry.

Separating vanilla from the fakes

Vanilla is one of the most expensive spices we use – more expensive than silver even. Part of the price is because of the labour-intensive nature of its production, that includes hand pollination and picking. One way to get around these higher prices is to use vanilla substitutes. But this is cheating consumers and sellers unless it is made clear that fake vanilla is being used.

One way that regulators and genuine vanilla sellers get around this is to use chromatography to separate real from fake. Liquid chromatography is a simple method that producers can use to establish whether the vanilla used is real or fake. Pushing the boundaries of chromatography’s capabilities is an ongoing task as discussed in the article, The Evolution of Ultra High-Performance Liquid Chromatography: Expanding the Future of Separation Technologies.

Deaths and theft for the farmers

But besides the costs of forgeries – recent reports suggest that the vanilla farmers of Madagascar are paying a much higher price. Farms are targeted by gangs of thieves who can strip the vines clear of pods in a single night. Farmers have taken to stamping individual vanilla pods with their own unique mark to identify stolen pods.

Losing a crop can be devastating for a farmer – it means a year of hardship for a family. There have even been several murders linked to the vanilla trade in Madagascar – sometimes villagers have taken the law into their own hands to apprehend suspected vanilla thieves. So, next time you ask for a ‘99’ – remember the real price that someone might have paid for your vanilla ice cream.