At his bustling Tel Aviv restaurant, chef Yair Yosefi adds a magical ingredient to his signature cake: Israel’s first commercially produced vanilla, which devotees claim delivers what may be the strongest flavor ever.
It’s made by Vanilla Vida, a new player in the food industry, who says its computer-controlled curing process, along with other high-tech growing methods, can scientifically process each batch of vanilla into a specific flavor.
Founded in 2020, the company could prove to be a lucrative venture, producing the world’s most valuable spice after saffron.
Many mass-produced foods, from ice cream to milkshakes to soy milk, are usually flavored with artificial vanilla — but the real organic stuff is still very expensive and sought-after.
Vanilla Vida has also developed greenhouses to create the conditions vanilla needs to thrive, but until the plants there reach full size, the company imports fresh vanilla to its processing facility in Or Yehuda, a Tel Aviv suburb.
Co-founder and CEO Oren Zilberman told AFP his company puts the raw product through a tightly controlled aging process.
This, he said, allows him to bring out the flavors he wants, speed up the drying process and eliminate the various risks associated with air drying in tropical environments like Indonesia or Madagascar, two major vanilla producers.
“We know how to use drying processes with different temperatures, humidity and other elements to get the raw material down a specific path to create slightly different flavors – just like you roast coffee differently to create different flavors,” Zilberman said.
“If you understand metabolism, you can create chocolate vanilla, caramelley vanilla, smoky woody vanilla like the French prefer, or very sweet vanilla for the Americans,” he added.
When asked about the quality of the Israeli-ripened vanilla, chef Yosefi said the proof is in the custard, given the spate of orders for his dacquoise cake and bistro brut.
“People are asking about ‘the fruit and vanilla dish,'” he told AFP.
The difference between other commercial vanilla and the highly concentrated Vanilla Vida product is “night and day,” he said.
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