{
 "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
 "id": "curing",
 "type": "Process",
 "version": 2,
 "updated": "2026-09-30",
 "station": 3,
 "confidence": "B",
 "sources": [
  "GC-5"
 ],
 "notes": "Schema v2 (Lane 14, 2026-09-30): filed by Lane 11 as an Extraction record (the model then had no Process type), converted here. Curing is a post-harvest treatment: nothing is separated from the pod. No origin is named: the filed curing study (GC-5) describes Mexican practice and no source ties a curing method to Madagascar.",
 "kind": "post-harvest",
 "name": {
  "value": "curing",
  "evidence": "documented",
  "source": "GC-5",
  "quote": "The curing process includes four stages: killing, sweating, drying, and conditioning.",
  "where": "docs/sources/GC-5-cuan-escobar-2025-vanilla-curing.md:19",
  "confidence": "A"
 },
 "method": {
  "value": "curing of the green pods in four stages: killing, sweating, drying and conditioning",
  "evidence": "documented",
  "source": "GC-5",
  "where": "docs/sources/GC-5-cuan-escobar-2025-vanilla-curing.md:19",
  "quote": "The curing process includes four stages: killing, sweating, drying, and conditioning.",
  "confidence": "A",
  "note": "killing starts the enzyme reactions that produce the aroma compounds (docs/sources/GC-5-cuan-escobar-2025-vanilla-curing.md:22); sweating keeps the pods humid in boxes while the aroma and colour develop (docs/sources/GC-5-cuan-escobar-2025-vanilla-curing.md:25). The page’s “blanching” is one way of killing (hot water)"
 },
 "timing": {
  "value": null,
  "evidence": null,
  "source": null,
  "where": null,
  "confidence": null,
  "note": "no filed source states when curing starts after the harvest"
 },
 "yields": {
  "value": "the cured vanilla pod",
  "evidence": "documented",
  "source": "GC-5",
  "where": "docs/sources/GC-5-cuan-escobar-2025-vanilla-curing.md:28",
  "quote": "Finally, in the conditioning stage, dried pods are stored at room temperature for 3–4 months to undergo chemical and biochemical reactions like esterification, etherification, and oxidative degradation, which enhance aroma quality (Anuradha et al., 2013).",
  "confidence": "A"
 },
 "parameters": {
  "value": "conditioning: the dried pods stored at room temperature for 3–4 months",
  "evidence": "documented",
  "source": "GC-5",
  "where": "docs/sources/GC-5-cuan-escobar-2025-vanilla-curing.md:28",
  "quote": "Finally, in the conditioning stage, dried pods are stored at room temperature for 3–4 months to undergo chemical and biochemical reactions like esterification, etherification, and oxidative degradation, which enhance aroma quality (Anuradha et al., 2013).",
  "confidence": "B",
  "note": "cited by GC-5 to Anuradha et al. 2013; the times of the other stages are not given in a filed source"
 },
 "history": {
  "value": null,
  "evidence": null,
  "source": null,
  "where": null,
  "confidence": null,
  "note": "no Historical Event record yet"
 },
 "materials": [
  "cured-vanilla-pods"
 ],
 "botanicals": [
  "vanilla-planifolia"
 ],
 "origins": [],
 "media": [],
 "links": {
  "essay": "/materials#origin-vanilla"
 },
 "copy": {
  "lede": "Curing turns the green vanilla pod into the black, scented one. It is not an extraction: nothing is taken out of the pod.",
  "body": [
   "The study on record describes four stages: killing, which starts the enzyme reactions that make the aroma; sweating, in humid boxes; drying; and conditioning, when the dried pods rest at room temperature for 3 to 4 months."
  ]
 }
}