During the last decade, we as consumers have slipped into a belief that Vanilla is the plain, sometimes “boring” version of a food product – particularly Ice Cream.
With it come the assumption that Vanilla, because of the plainness of its flavour, should cost the least.
This isn’t the case. Mainly down to two reasons, the first is since food, drink and beauty product manufacturers require cheaper and more accessible ingredients, most have been opting for artificial vanilla flavourings. This saw a gradual decrease in demand for fresh, Madagascan Vanilla, so the farmers had to increase their prices to make up for the loss.
Most recently Madagascar experienced a huge tropical storm that drifted westward across the Indian Ocean. This storm inflicted enough damage on the world’s biggest Vanilla producer to turn the global Vanilla trade on its head and send prices to a record high of more than £500 per kilogram.
Our Co-Founder, Josh Lee comments on the impact this has had on Northern Bloc:
“The destruction of the vanilla farms in Madagascar has been really tough on the business as a whole, but we continue to put ethicality, quality, taste and our ethos of only using the best natural ingredients first by using the highest quality Bourbon Vanilla bean from Madagascar, instead of other alternatives such as Vanillin.”
To find out more about the effects of the Enawo Tropical Storm and to donate to the cause, follow the link below:
> https://reliefweb.int/report/madagascar/flash-appeal-madagascar-intense-tropical-cyclone-enawo
