b l o g

o c t o b e r  2 0 2 1

By Piero Bianchessi, Former Owner and Operator of Venui Vanilla

Goal 1 : to discard all unsuitable beans

Goal 2 : to separate big beans from small or over-split beans (big beans will take more time to get uniformly hot)

When : as soon as possible after harvest (within 6 hours off picking the beans)

Warning

Green beans sitting in air-tight containers or for longer than 6 hours may develop a creosote-like aroma which you CANNOT eliminate during the curing.

Tools : (1) Ruler  (2) Trays for separating batches

Process 

(1) Grading Beans by Quality

• (a) too green/immature – discard all unripe beans
• (b) too small – discard beans shorter than 12cm in length
• (c) too split – discard beans split more than one third lengthwise
• (d) too sick – discard all beans with sick marks
• (e) hooked – discard hooked beans

(2) Sorting by bean size and bean split size

Grade the beans by sorting them into batches (groups) of different sizes and lengths of splits; the different groups need different times to reach the required temperature.

Problem

Dull or moody beans

Answer

Don’t mix immature or sick beans with healthy beans