OUR STORY
Vanilla Extract
Vanilla
Vanilla Flavor
Vanilla
Vanilla Extract
Vanilla
Vanilla Flavor
Welcome. For decades, my father, Gennaro Annunziato, has created a reputable path in the pastry and dessert industry, where Vanilla Extract acts as an integral ingredient in flavoring baked goods. Understanding that Vanilla is a delicate and expensive crop to cultivate, my father wanted to grow and refine Vanilla with his own recipe to ensure quality and richness for not only his own products, but for all bakers and craftsmen.
We currently work with a Co-Op farm in the Alajuela Province of Costa Rica, where the sole purpose of this farm is to produce high-quality Vanilla beans. The Peraza Segura family, who share 50% of our profits, owns the farm. Integrity in business is important to us, so we ensure that knowledgeable farmers, who directly benefit from their hard work, grow and harvest our Vanilla beans. The Vanilla beans are then sent to our extraction facility located in New Jersey where the beans undergo months of fermentation before reaching their optimum quality for sale.
Vanilla
Vanilla Extract
Vanilla Flavor
Vanilla Flavor
Vanilla Extract
Vanilla Flavor
Vanilla
Vanilla
Vanilla Extract
Vanilla
Vanilla Flavor
Vanilla Extract
Vanilla Flavor
A BIT About vanilla
Vanilla is beautifully aromatic and packed with flavor. It is the world’s only fruit producing tropical orchid grown in Central America. It is also the most popular flavor in the world and the second most expensive spice, only to saffron. Cultivation and manually processing of this crop is the reason for its high cost.
Vanilla is a vine-like plant that grows on a sturdy steel or wooden frame, taking up to 9 months before the beans are ready to harvest. When ready, the green seed pods are blanched in boiling water, sweated for days, and dried for weeks or even months.
Water and alcohol, such as bourbon or brandy, are then added and circulated over the beans. The beans are distilled several times during this process. The finished Vanilla product is filtered into holding tanks to await bottling.
To produce real Vanilla Extract, there are simply no shortcuts, and it is the most time and labor intensive spice to manufacture. As a result, Vanilla is valued in commercial use, as well as domestic baking, aromatherapy, and perfumes.
Meet our Team
Vanilla
Francesca
Francesca is Gennaro's daughter and the Marketing and Business Development Director at Classic Extract. She spearheads communication with clients and manages orders in the New Jersey office.
Vincente
Vincente is the grandfather of the Pereza Segura family. With the help of his family, the Pereza Seguras maintain our farm in Costa Rica and pollinate each Vanilla plant by hand.
Gennaro
Gennaro is the co-owner of Classic Extract Co. and has been an Executive Pastry Chef for decades. Our extracting facility is in New Jersey, where Gennaro processes all of the Vanilla from Costa Rica, finalizing the product for distribution.
Vanilla
Jose
Jose is Vincente's oldest son and agricultural manager at the Classic Extract Co. He oversees the health of our Vanilla farm, maintaining organic standards and ecologically sound cultivation techniques.