Aloha and welcome, Ian here from the Vanilla Ohana,
Since Hawaiian Vanilla Co. was established in 1998 (around the dinner), we’ve kept quality and family at the heart of our craft. Our family roots in Oahu stretched deep (my maternal grandmother is native Hawaiian) and our family was ready to plant new seeds of adventure on the Hamakua Coast of Hawaii Island (pun intended!).
At the time, my parents, Jim and Tracy, had two small children and a vision of how and where they wanted to raise them. My grandmother, an orchid enthusiast, mentioned that vanilla might be the crop to cultivate. From that dinner conversation to today this journey has been an adventure beyond any of our wildest dreams. Being able to build this business alongside his wife and kids was my dad’s greatest dream and we continue that legacy today.
We’ve had years of good harvest and years of none. We’ve had years.
Incredible experiences don’t come without hardship. We are proud to say we were the first commercial growers in the US. But being the first is not always the easiest. Our search to grow the finest quality vanilla in the world has taken me from the birth place of Vanilla, Mexico, into the rain forest of Micronesia, to the impoverished country of Haiti and to the highest technology in Vanilla research at Rutgers University. Our goal is to cultivate the best Vanilla in the world and provide the finest vanilla related products.
Through the highs and the lows, we remain incredibly blessed by this incredible plant and the community that has come together around it. Whether you come and experience it for yourself on a tour or simply start your own vanilla legacy in your family, thank you for being a part of this Vanilla Ohana.
