Why are vanilla beans so expensive?

Vanilla harvesting is a time and labor-intensive endeavor that defies automation. It’s an incredibly long process that can’t be rushed.

The vanilla orchids only open one day a year, and they must be hand-pollinated because this particular flower has only one natural pollinator the Melipona bee.

It takes the pods another eight to nine months to mature, and then they must be hand-picked while green. The pods must be cured, then wrapped in little blankets and dried, a three-to-six-month process during which they ferment and shrink down by 400 percent.