Tropical 'first' in backyard

Garth Boggiss stands among his commercial vanilla crop; this is the first time it has been grown outside the tropics. Photo / Alan Gibson

A New Zealand couple have produced the first vanilla crop outside the tropics, by creating a Pacific Islands climate in their backyard.

Tauranga couple Garth and Jennifer Boggiss say their vanilla pods, picked five weeks ago, are the first commercial vanilla harvest grown in New Zealand, and the only beans created outside the tropical band 23 degrees either side of the equator.

Their business, Reunion Food Company, has grown vanilla in Tonga since 2003, as part of an aid project to lift residents of the Tongan island Vava'u out of poverty and unemployment.

They have recreated a Tongan shade house by pumping hot water through pipes into a plastic house on their Te Puna property.

The computer-controlled heating system maintains a balmy climate between 14C and 30C, with 80 per cent humidity.

Mr Boggiss said the cooler end of the temperature range had produced vanilla pods with a distinct flavour.

"Vanilla is a bit like wine - it is described differently in every region that it's grown in. Mexican vanilla is woody, Madagascan is rummy, Tongan is like raisin. A semi-formal assessment, by smelling it, showed our vanilla had a chocolate-y flavour, which is exciting, because it's different."

Their first local yield is a tiny 600 pods, weighing 2kg.

Depending on interest in the new flavour, and the logistics of the labour-intensive harvesting of the plants, the couple might increase production and sell the pods directly to chefs.

The first harvest will be ready in March, after three months of curing and drying.

The first taste-test will come at the Government's global warming dinner this month.

It will use only locally grown ingredients, and the couple are awaiting the response from chefs at Wellington's Logan Brown Restaurant and Bar, which is hosting the dinner.

Mr Boggiss said chefs were now using the creamy taste of vanilla in a broader range of foods than desserts and baking.

"As well as being used to bring out other strong flavours, it is being added to seafood, poultry, and salad dressings."

Their company has a do-it-yourself feel. Mr Boggiss looks after research and development and Mrs Boggiss handles sales and marketing.

The beans are processed at a plant in Katikati.

The Boggiss' first venture into vanilla farming was to give a sense of worth to residents in the village of Ugnatuke.

"A lot of New Zealanders grow squash [in Tonga]. But we needed something that was non-perishable and non-expensive to move," said Mrs Bogiss.

Five years later, their Tongan brand Heilala Vanilla is a supplier to top Australian and New Zealand chefs and restaurants.

The company controlled every stage of production, "from plantation to pantry", which they said was reassuring for buyers who wanted a guarantee of fair trading conditions.

Reunion Food Company produced 1.2 tonnes of dried vanilla pods a year, worth up to $500 a kilogram.