TRIPPER’S sourcing team recently traveled to Sumatra, looking for additional Cinnamon farmers to add to its our current list of suppliers. The coffee harvest season has ended there and the timing was right, given that we saw more Cinnamon bark being dried and stocked up at both farmer’s and collector’s warehouses.

CINNAMON REPORT   TRIPPER’S sourcing team recently traveled to Sumatra, looking for additional Cinnamon farmers to add to its our current list of suppliers. The coffee harvest season has ended there and the timing was right, given that we saw more Cinnamon bark being dried and stocked up at both farmer’s and collector’s warehouses.           With the increased humidity of the rainy season, farmers are usually reluctant to put in the extra effort required to dry the Cinnamon to our standards. Local collectors accept the wet bark, therefore limiting the supply of good quality cassia. Crucial in this season, TRIPPER emphasized the importance of maintaining quality through proper processing and drying. Collectors have to apply additional drying techniques to improve quality, which adds to the price of the raw material. We saw many collectors selling raw product to exporters in Padang in the same state as they received it from growers, without undergoing any additional drying. Therefore there is no surprise the quality of the stock is questionable and with a price increase. This year, we’re experiencing more pressure on the raw material price as Padang exporters seem to be either out of stock or they are likely catching up with their contracts. They are now accepting bark at high moisture levels, which they previously would have rejected.   Buyers who normally buy a few times a year are now buying continuously whenever they can, due to the low supply in the market. Compared to January 2013, we have seen an almost 75% price increase through to December 2013. ~Meidy V & Talita M   A Vanilla Standoff   A couple of years ago, a big German flavor company decided to open shop directly in the Sava region of Madagascar (this region is the mecca of Vanilla) and in doing so has totally upset the traditional supply chain.   At the beginning of this year’s harvest, this company gave the OK to buy green vanilla at a high price, the problem was that they had a market to fulfill and everyone else just followed. The exporters that have cured a portion of the crop are finding a big resistance from flavor companies to accept the new prices and nothing is being booked for the 2014 delivery, so the Vanilla is staying in the hands of the local preparateur. To avoid too much weight loss, the local preparateurs are almost all using vacuum machines and are sometimes packing beans only after a few weeks. This is a big problem as the Vanilla is still very unstable and by packing it with so much water the flavor and vanillin are negatively impacted. The 2014 crop is expected to come in early June and estimated at over 1,500MT. Are the flavor companies well covered and able to wait until the new crop is available (estimated September)? Local preparateurs will need to move their Vanilla before June to stay active in the new crop. We’ll see how this standoff plays out in the next few months. This trend of flavor companies setting up shop at origin is going to spread and obviously disturbs the traditional trading network, but I believe will have a positive impact on the overall quality, giving local partners access to more technology to improve quality. Indonesia’s prices moved sharply in September, but after finding resistance on the market has stabilized. Historically price have always increased when their was a shortage of black foodservice beans on the market (this quality can’t be switch with any other) this is certainly the case right now. ~Francois B       Generally when the crop is ready, the farmers can sell their pods to two channels, the exporters (they normally cure 10%) and local bush curer called “preparateur”, they will process the vanilla to a moisture level that is stable and sell it back to exporters when they have finished with their own curing. This way of working has worked well so far, but with the arrival of flavor companies implanting themselves directly on location everything is changing.             IBIE REPORT   VANILLA ICE CREAM                     Tripper goes on a Winning Streak at Las Vegas IBIE 2013.   Ingredients: • 375 ml Whole Milk • 375 ml Thick Cream • 60 gm Sugar • 4 Egg Yolks • ½ tsp Salt • 18 gm “Island of The Gods” Vanilla Paste Yield: 1.5 lbs Directions: • Pour the cream & whole milk and a half of the sugar into a heavy saucepan, place over medium-low heat and heat until low simmer, stirring frequently. Turn the heat down to low. • Whisk egg yolk, salt & other half of sugar in a large bowl until thoroughly combined. • Slowly pour about ½ cup of hot cream mixture into egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Repeat three times more, whisking thoroughly before adding each additional ½ cup of hot cream to the egg yolk mixture. Pour the egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining hot cream and whisk constantly over medium-low heat until mixture thickens and will coat the back of spoon, 5 to 8 minutes. Do not let mixture boil. • Remove from heat. Filter. • Add “Island of The Gods” Vanilla Paste, stir well. • Pour ingredients into ice cream maker, mix for 30 minutes. • Pour the ice cream into a bowl and place in freezer to chill 3 hours/overnight. ~Dewi G     October 06-09 was the right time to be presenting our unique line of sweet spice products to excited attendees at the 2013 International Bakery Industry Exposition and Convention. Seven of TRIPPER’S “Best” acted as emissaries to convention goers wanting to know more about the world of spice. Francois and Olivier Bernard, owners and directors of TRIPPER, led the team throughout the four-day show, which proved to be a tremendously successful event. “Our booth was a mix of old and new, of traditional Indonesian culture mixed with modern provenance tracking techniques… all of which is part of the mystique of theTRIPPER 2013 IBIE presence.” Original products presented by TRIPPER at the show included natural extracts, grounds, Vanilla beans and the innovative range of pastes. The show highlighted the newest entries into the market: the “Islands of the Gods” paste products. Ice cream was made at the booth and served up as lines quickly formed to sample the tasty treats. The delicious ice cream was a huge hit in vanilla, cinnamon, chili, and ginger; all made using the “Islands of the Gods” natural spice paste products. On hand to help out with booth duties throughout the show were Francois Bernard and Olivier Bernard, Albert Putra, Dewi Gustia, Jim LaRosa, Siska Debert, and Chris Semerau. ~Christina S