In April 2000, Hurricane Hudah ripped through the island of Madagascar, seriously damaging the vanilla crop and reducing supply.
Editors' Note: In April 2000, Hurricane Hudah ripped through the island of Madagascar, seriously damaging the vanilla crop and reducing supply. This drove vanilla prices up and flavor quality down. The impact of this is still being felt today. Now there are reports that there was a failure of vanilla plants to flower in Madagascar, which will affect the 2003 crop that becomes available for use as extract in 2004. Reprised and updated here is "Tharp & Young On Ice Cream," reflecting on the old, recognizing the new and offering some recommendations to help with the current and future vanilla situations.
Q What is the cause of and what can be done to cope with the current limited availability of vanilla extract?