About Us
Discover the World of Ugandan Vanilla Beans
At The Vanilla Shop, we are passionate about providing our customers with the highest quality vanilla beans from Uganda. Our beans are carefully curated and selected to ensure that they meet our high standards. We believe that every dish can be elevated with the addition of our premium vanilla beans. Whether you're a professional chef or a home cook, we have the perfect vanilla beans for you.
Our mission is to share our love for Ugandan vanilla beans with the world. We believe that our beans are the best in the world, and we are committed to providing our customers with an exceptional experience. Thank you for choosing The Vanilla Shop!
We are dedicated to providing our customers with the best possible experience. We are passionate about Ugandan vanilla beans and we believe that they can transform any dish.
Joseph Arthur Pulunyi
Founder
Lisa Pulunyi
Founder
​
​
About us
We love vanilla! We are fascinated by the exotic plant with its fine, seductive aroma. As a hobby baker, I have always used vanilla in my sweet creations. In the past, I didn't think much about what this plant was all about. That changed when Joseph's brother Timothy started exporting vanilla all over the world. Since then, we have learned a lot - about the plant, its cultivation and harvesting, its refinement and, ultimately, about many other uses besides just in desserts.
​
Our family also has its own small vanilla plantation in a small forest. However, most of the vanilla sold comes from small farmers, whom Timothy gives access to the international market.
​
Vanilla
Vanilla is a mysterious plant. As an orchid species, it is actually native to Central America, where it is pollinated by a special type of hummingbird. Everywhere else in the world, vanilla has to be made by hand. Not so easy for a climbing plant that grows several meters high depending on the environment! The refinement process is also based almost exclusively on manual labor. After the pods have been harvested (also by hand, of course), they are boiled and then wrapped in blankets to "sweat". Once the pods have fermented enough, they are placed in the sun to dry. The beans are then sorted by size and any that have already burst are sorted out. These are not thrown away, however, but are usually dried further and ground into vanilla powder. This is used in the food and cosmetics industries, for example.
Vanilla planifolia is grown in Uganda. This is the same variety that is grown as Bourbon vanilla in Madagascar. As with wine and coffee, however, the terroir, i.e. the soil on which it is grown, also plays an important role in vanilla. This is where Uganda shines: the fertile soil and the favorable climate make Ugandan vanilla at least as good as Bourbon vanilla. The latter even has a very decisive advantage: while in most growing areas it can only be harvested once a year, in Uganda vanilla blooms twice a year.
​