A Tauranga-based company has harvested its first crop of home-grown vanilla beans.
Heilala Vanilla has been growing the beans in Tonga for the past four years already.
Director Garth Boggiss says the vanilla plant, which is actually an orchid, usually flourishes only in tropical areas around the equator, but the company wanted to try to grow them in Tauranga.
Using a special geo-thermal heated plastic house to re-create the climate the orchids need, the young crop first flowered last year. Mr Boggiss says it has produced about 1000 vanilla beans.
He says it will take six weeks for the flavours to develop and how the New Zealand environment may have affected the taste is 'anyone's guess'.
Mr Boggiss says the first harvest will not be available in shops, but will be sold for use in restaurants in New Zealand, Australia and South-East Asia.
