Madagascan Cola

True Madagascan vanilla is a difficult thing to grow but the rewards are bountiful - its taste and aroma are so highly prized it is now worth more than its weight in silver. Vanilla is not native to the island of Madagascar. Despite its unrivalled breadth of biodiversity, there is no native fauna to pollenate the vanilla flowers; instead, local farmers painstakingly hand-pollenate each flower in the 24-hour period in which it opens and then wait six months for the annual harvest of the plump green beans. They are then blanched and 'sweated' before a month-long process of 2-hour daily exposures to the sun, finishing at a fifth of their original weight. The result is an intensely sweet and warming burst of flavour that no synthetic process could ever truly replicate. 

To prevent scurvy during the 19th century, British sailors were issued a daily allowance of citrus, such as lemon, and later switched to lime. The use of citrus was initially a closely guarded military secret, as scurvy was a common scourge of various national navies, and the ability to remain at sea for lengthy periods without contracting the disorder was a huge benefit for the military. The British sailor thus acquired the nickname, “Limey” because of their usage of limes. Mexican Key Limes are incredibly juicy and sharply acidic; they afford a wonderful fruity and piney flavour to our products.