It is October 17th 2024. I’m thrilled that we are celebrating International Real Vanilla Day with so many LittlePodders today. We have sent out a beautiful calendar which, this year, is a celebration of the environmental story of LittlePod.

Of course, on International Real Vanilla Day 2023, we were far away from LittlePod HQ. We were, in fact, looking up at the coconut trees silhouetted against a bright, hot sky in Bali. Around us were many other trees, some acting as tutor trees decorated with vanilla vines. The vanilla orchid was out. I was shown how to hand pollinate the flower by Made 2, one of the LittlePod farmers. They had gathered together to meet the LittlePod team.

It was a long-awaited meeting. Having spent more than a decade working together, we were finally to meet with the village farmers who had been inspired by Made 1, LittlePod’s original vanilla farmer, to plant vanilla using a polyculture system. Made is a Balinese name for the second son so as you can imagine, there are lots of them!

Our project in Indonesia was pioneering work and it was not necessarily anticipated to become a success. This day last October was a joyful day – the ultimate show and tell day! The farmers’ work had indeed been a huge success.

I will be telling this story – and more – in a new book that I have been commissioned to write. It will be available next spring!

Until then, I can bathe in gratitude, along with the vanilla farmers, in the knowledge that a collaboration that started with a small sapling and a worthy purpose has blossomed into a remarkable story that will continue to breathe the Long Tide.

This year, we will celebrate the memory of our visit by cooking a Vanilla Nasi Goreng here in East Devon. Last October, I attended an Indonesian cookery class at the Pita Maha hotel in Ubud, where we stayed. I offered Chef Noguh some vanilla to use in his dish. But he said that they did not use vanilla as it was far too expensive. I gave him a tube of LittlePod’s natural vanilla paste and challenged him to use it to create a Nasi Goreng. He said that the hotel would be the only place in Bali where you could taste a real vanilla-infused version of this signature dish of the country!

Chef Noguh was thrilled when I said that I had an idea of how they could use vanilla every day at Pita Maha and that eventually he could pick his own…

Before leaving Bali, I wanted to show my thanks to the team at the hotel for the care and attention they had given me. I had been recovering from a major operation and found it difficult to eat, but the staff looked after me with small morsels of tantalising (and delicious) soft foods.

I organised with Made and Ketut to plant some vanilla vines inside the hotel grounds around suitable trees. In just one year, the vines have soared through the trees to provide a canopy for the plants below. One day I hope to return and offer to help with their vanilla harvesting!

Thank you everyone who is celebrating LittlePod’s special day today. You are the heroes who are saving REAL vanilla for the next generation, encouraging the regeneration of the rainforest and, ultimately, improving the air we all breathe. Happy International Real Vanilla Day!

Vanilla hugs,
Janet x