In honor of the reopening of our shop, I thought I’d share the story of how Triple XXX Vanilla came to be. Thank you for your patience. I had a bit of a fall and needed some time to heal. I’m still healing, but slowly getting better.
How did Triple XXX Vanilla Come To Be?
When I started this business, I was trying to find a way forward for myself on my own terms. It was 2009, I’d been business and creative partners with my husband for over 13 years. We’d just finished a big road trip documentary project together and we were each eager to branch out on our own with our own projects. At least I was. I’d lived in the shadows, ghost writing, and promoting a lot of projects I wasn’t really into. My work on our road trip project, ‘A Year At The Wheel’ finally gave me confidence that my own voice and interests were just as important as my partners. Vanilla came about accidentally. My love of baking was growing costly, but I couldn’t really skimp on the ingredients. Then I remembered a visit with my father some years earlier, he told me he was making his own vanilla extract. So, I started making my own, soon I had a new obsession.
I learned that everywhere vanilla beans grow the soil, the sun, everything affects the scent and flavor of the beans. Even beans grown on the same island varied in flavor from region to region, farm to farm. Then I learned about how ugly the industry of vanilla production is. It’s a complex process that takes many hands. Horrendously, these were often the hands of slaves, women and children forced into labor due to economic suffering. There had to be a way to help. I experimented with making vanilla for months, then a year, two years. I learned something Astonishing — The vanilla bean could be used to make extract again and again, my tests and experiments proved this over and over again. Suddenly and idea was born… What if I could show people how to make quality vanilla extract themselves, and by reusing the beans multiple times, we could help make the industry more sustainable and less exploitive? Suddenly, Triple XXX Vanilla was born! (Initially, it was actually “Double X Vanilla”, but that is another story for another day.)
Today, it is still a tiny operation. An operation of one. But one person can change the world, history shows this again and again, often it is one person who makes a big change in the world for the better. So I ask you, why not make your own extract? If you started now by ordering one of our DIY Kits, you could have a supply of vanilla extract for the next few years! Imagine that! So, what are you waiting for?