Organic Mexican Vanilla Beans

I’ll be in the neighborhood in the spring. Does anyone know if there are sources where I can buy organic Mexican vanilla beans? The Mexican varietal is different than the Madagascar and Tahitian varietals. It would be super cool to be able to pick some up during my travels.

Thanks!

Bumping this one back up in case anyone might have the answer. Leaving for this adventure soon.Thanks!

I have never seen vanilla beans for sell in Mexico. Only the bottled vanilla.

As others have said, probably only vanilla extract and that would be at the port shops. There is a Mercado along the malecon in Mahahual, you can check in there.

I'm doubting there's any material difference between "organic" beans and regular beans. Similar with foodstuff. Mexico isn't as concerned about "organic", "gluten-free", "non-GMO", labelling as some folks in the U.S. are. There is no "organic" labelling criteria in Mexico and vanilla beans are NOT wheat and do not contain gluten so any labelling as gluten free is marketing hype and you're over paying).

The label on vanilla extract bottles should read Vanilla bean extractives, alcohol, sugar, water in that order. If there is anything else on the label it's not "real" Mexican vanilla. If it says "vanilla extract" versus "Vanilla bean extractives" its not true Mexican Vanilla. Big bottles, cheap bottles aren't real Mexican vanilla. Neither are vanilla extracts that are black in color.

I actually make my own extract at home using the bean pods. Which is why I'm looking for the beans. But this is helpful information for folks looking for the actual extract itself.

I also make my own vanilla but would only buy from a reputable US company. I would be too concerned with their standards to buy them in port. I would be curious if the beans would be considered foodstuff that would be confiscated by the ship .

Assuming you find them, US Customs does not confiscate vanilla beans if for private use. You just need to declare them on your custom form.

As to quality of extract, as long as the ingredients are Vanilla BEAN extractives, alcohol, sugar, water and nothing else, that as best of a quality as you'll find. It will be more expensive that those big cheap bottles you often see in cruise ports.

I had E-mailed the VanillaMX folks prior to leaving and they mentioned that they had both extract and beans available at the Duty Free stores at the ports. Cozumel was all sold out. There wasn't enough time to check the Costa Maya store to see if they had any. Experiment FAIL on my part.