Dessert Makers Trying To Cope As Price Of Vanilla Beans Shoots Up

FOLSOM (CBS13) – The price of vanilla ice cream and other sweet treats could be going up.

Vanilla beans are in short supply in Madagascar and the price has more than tripled.

"If it were just vanilla, we were happy to decorate it with a little piece of vanilla bean," said Karen Holmes, owner of Karen's Bakery and Café.

Holmes says vanilla is a common staple in a lot of her appetizing pastries and cakes.

"And we scrape them out and we use them to season butter cream. We use them to season sugar," Holmes said.

This harvest is shipped in all the way from the world's largest vanilla bean producer: Madagascar.

"They have an incredibly low yield right now, so their beans are not coming," Holmes said.

The small African coastal country's low yield is due to political and environmental challenges. Meaning, business owners in our area are paying higher wholesale prices.

"We have to do something. It's not just the doubling of pricing – it's the doubling, quadrupling of pricing," Holmes said.

It's affecting Karen's bottom line.

"In January, we paid $80 a pound for beans. In February, we paid a $120 a pound for beans," Holmes said.

Without compromising quality, Karen is now making adjustments to the bakery's vanilla bean budget.

"We should expect it to go up as high as 200 to 250 dollars a pound," Holmes said.

For now, Karen says she's is not passing the extra cost on to her customers. But she knows for many, the mouthwatering taste of vanilla is irresistible – no matter the price.

"Vanilla is just one of those yummy, basic, clean, beautiful flavors in its pure form. It's really something special."

Karen says the shortage affects ice cream makers more. They require larger quantities of beans.