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What is Vanilla and Where Does it Come From?Vanilla in Powder or Pods is One of the Most Widely Used FlavouringsLove it or hate it the flavouring - Vanilla is here to stay. It's used in the preparation of many items today, not only foods. Get the real flavour and not artificial.
Vanilla pods are produced by the Vanilla Orchid Plant, which is one of the easier indoor orchids to grow. The pods look rather like green beans when they are ripe and after picking they need to be dried out and fermented for their rich flavour to develop. This is a fairly complicated and lengthy process, which is why the price of vanilla pods to buy is fairly high. Vanilla beans are only found growing in tropical climates. Vanilla Flowers Bloom for One DayToday , unfortunately most the vanilla flavour and scent that is used comes from artificial production. The natural vanilla pod comes from the commercially grown Vanilla planifolia species, which is a climber that scrambles to provide its own partial shade which it prefers. The flowers are large and usually white, greenish yellow, green, or creamy in colour. Each flower only blooms for a day and it needs to be pollinated within that time. Its history began in Mexico with the Totonaco people who were the first to cultivate the plant. According to legend the blood of two lovers marked the spot where an orchid vine was found growing and so the scent of vanilla signifies love and beauty. The vanilla orchid was then introduced into England in the early 1700s and by the 1800s the native plants were becoming rare and began to be smuggled out of Mexico and Central America. When the Spanish defeated the Aztecs and introduced it into Spain they began to use vanilla beans and cacao together to make an unusual drink which then was only enjoyed by the rich nobility. It gradually crept throughout Europe and in 1602, Hugh Morgan, apothecary to Queen Elizabeth I, recommended that vanilla be used by itself. Main Vanilla Growing areasThese days vanilla beans are produced in four main growing areas
Each of the growing areas has its own distinctive characteristics, Madagascar is the largest grower of vanilla beans in the world producing the highest quality pure vanilla on the market, it is described as creamy, sweet, smooth, mellow flavour. The second largest area of production is Indonesia which grows a vanilla pod that is woody and astringent. These two together produce 90% of the world’s total vanilla production. Mexico, the place of origin, produces a small percentage of the world production. The vanilla from Mexico is creamy, sweet, smooth and spicy. Tahiti the smallest producer of the four major regions produces a flowery, fruity and smooth vanilla. Vanilla TodayVanilla is today one of the most widely used flavours in the whole world, it's used mainly in ice creams, but also for sauces in Mexico and biscuits in Sweden but other diverse uses can be found such as for fruit in Polynesia and even perfume in what has to be Paris.
The copyright of the article What is Vanilla and Where Does it Come From? in Mediterranean Cuisine is owned by Rachel L. Webb. Permission to republish What is Vanilla and Where Does it Come From? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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