Abstract

Tahitian vanilla knew, some decades ago, a golden age and has represented a financial resource for numerous families, especially in the islands. After a period of decline, the local authorities seriously threw back this production to the export.
The improvement of the vanilla preparation and the control of the quality of the products appear necessary to reinforce the fame of the “Vanilla of Tahiti” on the markets of export.
An important program of research financed by the State allowed us to realise the fine analytic characterization of the different varieties of vanilla produced in order to define the specificity “Vanilla of Tahiti”. Recent works succeeded in underlining by Gas Chromatography/Mass spectrometry new fragrant molecules responsible for the particular aroma of the Tahitian vanilla.