Russell Spanton, the original Australian vanilla man
Russell would probably be known as the barefoot salesman - if the hordes of ‘southern’ customers bothered to look beneath the table at the Port Douglas markets. But they are too fascinated by the intriguing wares Russell Spanton has to sell.
Russell is the original Australian vanilla man and he is probably the ‘face’ of Vanilla Australia, the company established by he and his Scottish-born wife Mary to sell their special produce.
With no farming background whatsoever, the pair now has an established and growing market and reputation.
However, Russell does acknowledge his great grandfather was Chinese and had market gardens in Brisbane.
From his weekly stall at the iconic Port Douglas market, Russell sells his vanilla essence and beans to (predominantly) women from all over Australia and the world.
Russell views the Port Douglas markets not really as an avenue for sales, but for brand recognition and relatively cheap advertising. From that little stall in Port (as the locals call it), their vanilla has been sent all over the world - Germany, France, Estonia, Canada, the UK and even the Middle East.
For a couple of months each year the little family heads ‘down south’ where they peddle their wares storeto-store, increasing their list of sale points each time. A stonemason by trade and with a military family background, Russell also could be called an accidental farmer, but if this is the result of an accident, then may there be many more to come.
Living with their two children on a cane farm nestled in the foothills of world famous Port Douglas, the pair was encouraged to grow ‘something’ by their landlord, a Kokoda Trail war hero.
It has taken years of trial and error to grow a crop previously unknown in commercial quantities in Australia and then produce edible beans and essence from it.
Most of the research they undertook was either not relevant to the tropical climate they chose or just not accu- rate. So the pair set out to find their own way 10 years ago. And now, in a small greenhouse just a couple of metres from the house in which they live, they grow 500 orchids, but not orchids as we know them.
Biodynamic and organic
methods
These orchids look more like a vine than an orchid but are grown in incredibly rich soil with the help of biodynamic and organic methods and inputs.
Overseas, the orchids are grown around trees, but Russell believes the ‘intense’ way theirs are grown, to be the reason their vanilla has been graded four times more intense than the world’s best, by the CSIRO.
Starting with 55 cuttings 10 years ago, Russell hopes to eventually be growing 2,000 plants. Generally it takes three years before the first flower appears, but with some of the Spanton’s plants, it took five.
“We’ve had people come here who buy vanilla all over the world and say they’ve never seen such healthy plants.”
Every flower only opens once in its life, with just a narrow opportunity of a few hours in which to pollinate it.
Each flower contains male and female parts and Russell has invented a special silver implement with which to pollinate.
Russell also is known to some customers as the sex therapist to the plants for he could be facilitating the sex act up to thousands of times a day.
If that narrow opportunity to polli- nate is missed, the flower will die and the opportunity to grow vanilla pods from it is lost.
‘Some people say saffron is the most labour intensive crop but we’d argue with that’
It takes up to nine months for the vanilla bean to ripen and each must be picked individually.
Curing can take up to two years depending on weather. This in itself is an intensive process, involving blanching, sweat, wrapping in blankets, hot water bottles, short bursts of sunlight and massaging the pods.
“When we tried to start curing our first crop we lost nearly all of it and then we decided to do things the way we thought might work and we finally discovered the correct curing process,” Russell explains.
“Some people say saffron is the most labour intensive crop but we’d argue with that.
“The next problem was how to make a true vanilla essence without chemicals and after many years of research and experiments, we started to make our own vanilla essence and our friends asked if they could try it and they were so excited and that got us excited.”
Russell is justifiably proud of the fact no chemicals are used in their extraction process and that only a few grams of sugar are used. “That is usually why essences are so black,” he says. “Although we are not certified organic, we grow our vanilla using biodynamic and biological methods and we do not use any poisons or pesticides at all. Others may say pure or natural and even certified organic, but after the extraction process it cannot be organic and some chains put their brand name on a product and don’t
know of made.”
Because they are renting the property, organic certification has not been possible but to Russell it is not that important. “I’ve had cancer and I just don’t like all the things we eat in our food these days.
“That’s why we’ve got pharmacy grade glass bottles for our essence, not plastic and we got special lids, too. They’re resin, not plastic.
“We believe if we look after the land that it will look after us. Our soil here is so sweet.
“Vanilla is about mums and nannies making things for their kids.”
Farming techniques involve the richness of worm castings, biodynamic methods, plenty of mulch, seaweed, humus and crushed stone.
Russell believes it is the concentrated plantings that makes his essence so rich.
“Overseas it’s planted around trees, not as intensely as we have it here,” he explains of a small greenhouse filled with rows of green vines, looped over each other.
Russell tells his market customers, as they happily walk away with a stash of incredibly aromatic beans or bottles of essence, to be careful of what they have just bought as it can be an aphrodisiac.
He asks each where they live, knowing many will be out-of-towners, and tells them which store they can
the
process of how
it
is buy it from when they return home from their holiday in the tropics.
At the time of going to press, 180 stores nationwide stock his special essence and it has found favour with celebrity chefs such as Gary Mehigan from Masterchef, Poh Ling Yeow from Poh’s Kitchen on the ABC and Alasdair Mcleod from Queensland Weekender.
The pair was thrilled that their product scored a full page mention in Gary Mehigan’s book with George Calombaris called “Your place or mine”.
In the book, Gary writes: “Last year I met Russell Spanton from Vanilla Australia, a passionate grower of vanilla in Australia’s Far North.
“Like the hands of a car mechanic, his were a little stained and clearly belonged to someone who works with his hands.
“It turns out that vanilla needs a lot of love - not only is each plant pollinated by hand, but it also needs to be aged and turned and massaged along its length to ensure the even distribution of seeds.
“What fragrant hands Russell must have!”
While he does describe their venture as successful, Russell says they are probably still living below the poverty line.
But he judges their success by the product they have created as validation of what they have achieved.
Russell proudly tells customers the vanilla orchid is the only one in the world to provide something edible.
For customers who are desperate for the pods, they can be posted, though they are not yet available from stores.
Most of the work to create their delectable essence and pods occurs by hand, though they do have a small bottling machine.
Expansion is planned to a bigger block with a purpose-built vanillery but Russell believes 2,000 plants will be sufficient.
“We don’t want to get too big. We want to employ a couple of locals but it’s not about making big heaps of money, for us.”
- Robyn Rankin