Neil Haley Interviews Tracy Reddekopp from the Hawaiian Vanilla Company

From Tracy and Jim Reddekopp:

The Hawaiian Vanilla Co. was established in 1998 while sitting around a dinner table with family discussing what we would consider growing on our newly purchased property along the Hamakua Coast of the Big Island.

At the time, we had two small children and had a vision of how and where we wanted to raise them. My mother-in-law, who is an orchid enthusiast, mentioned that vanilla might be the crop to cultivate. From that dinner conversation to today this journey has been an adventure beyond my wildest dreams. Being able to work alongside my wife and children and build this company together has been an incredible experience.

Incredible experiences don’t come without hardship. We are proud to say we were the first commercial growers in the US. But being the first is not always the easiest. Our search to grow the finest quality vanilla in the world has taken me to the birth place of Vanilla, Mexico, into the rain forest of Micronesia, to the impoverish country of Haiti and to the highest technology in Vanilla research at Rutgers University. Our goal is to cultivate the best Vanilla in the world and provide the finest vanilla related product including vanilla coffee, beans,  and more. We’ve had years of good harvest and years of none. We’ve had years when we’ve relied on the harvest of others to see us through. But anything worthwhile takes time. I hope you come by for a visit and see for yourself what the Hawaiian Vanilla Co. is all about. For more information about products, tours, recipes, and more, , please visit http://www.hawaiianvanilla.com/