Vanilla facts
Plants in the orchidaceae family, such as vanilla trees, require a lot of care and produce a fruit called vanilla pods once they are fertilized.
Of the 20,000 species in the world, it is the only orchid to produce edible fruit. A man's knowledge and skill are needed to fertilize the world's average production of 2000 tons each year. After planting, one must wait three years before obtaining the first production, which is approximately 1 kilogram of pods per year for 10 to 15 years.
Vanilla plants produce fruit in the form of elongated pods, resembling large green beans, called "broom" clusters. The vanilla plant can produce up to four brooms per year, each containing 10 to 12 pods, from July to September.
Vanilla comes in more than 100 varieties.
Our vanilla is vanilla planifolia, the most popular vanilla in the world. It is also known as "bourbon" vanilla.
History of Vanilla
Wild vanilla flowers are pollinated by hummingbirds and native melipone bees in the Chiapas rainforest in Mexico. It is still possible to find wild vanilla in the Chinantla forest today. Fermentation techniques were mastered by the Aztecs, the Mayans, and the pre-Columbian civilizations (Olmecs, Totonacs) long before the arrival of Columbus. Tlilxotchitl, which means black flower, was the Aztec name for vanilla beans. Those who drank holy beverages prepared with vanilla beans and cocoa could communicate with the gods by drinking them. Vanilla beans were even used to pay certain taxes to Aztec kings by the Totonacs.
It wasn't until 1520 that the Spanish explorer Cortés was offered chocolate and vanilla by the Mexican Emperor Montezuma that vanilla beans were discovered by Europeans. The Europeans brought back seeds of vanilla vines to plant elsewhere, first in greenhouses, then on tropical islands such as Reunion Island, Mauritius Islands, and Madagascar after discovering vanilla's seductive fragrance and flavor. Despite growing and flowering, no beans formed on the vines. The Totonac Indians kept the process of cultivating vanilla beans secret for many years, so European vanilla growers gave up trying to cultivate them. Mexicans were the only ones who could make vanilla beans until the mid-19th century. Despite knowing how to cure ripe beans, Europeans couldn't pollinate the vanilla flowers to produce beans. Using a thorn from a wild lemon tree, Edmond Albius, a slave, discovered how to hand-pollinate vanilla flowers in 1840-1850. As a reward for his discovery, Albius was freed from slavery.
In the years that followed, vanilla grew rapidly in French overseas territories and in other places where French influence was strong. Madagascar was one of these islands.
Vanilla beans are peas that grow on the vanilla plant, belonging to the orchid family. Vanilla plants grow like vines, clinging to the trees as they climb. They are epiphytic hermaphrodites with a mass of pollen without powder. Botanists have identified more than 60 different species of vanilla that grow wild, mainly in Mexico. In southern Mexico, wild vanilla flowers are pollinated by native hummingbirds and bees.
Elsewhere, all cultivated vanilla flowers have been hand-pollinated since the 19th century. The meticulous process involves taking each flower and crushing the rostellum, a thin membrane that separates the flower's stigma from its pollen. After about 9 months, the long green vanilla pods with yellow highlights are ready to harvest. At this stage, the vanilla pod is called "green vanilla". They look like a large green pea and range in size from 10 to 20 centimeters. Each bean is a pod that surrounds a small sac filled with small black seeds.
While the vanilla beans are still on the vine, they will give off a light vanilla scent. Drying beans enhances their flavor and turns them deep chocolate brown. The drying process of Vanilla planifolia fruit begins with 24 hours of "scarring" as soon as they are picked. The beans are then boiled for a few minutes. This step is part of a brewing technique developed by Ernest Loupy (1851), a winemaker from Reunion, using traditional Mexican methods.
After this period, the beans are wrapped in large blankets for a period of 4 weeks (approximately) when the beans (still wrapped in blankets) are spread out to dry in the sun during the day and then brought indoors at night to promote promote ideal fermentation conditions. Finally, the beans were placed on nets in ventilated wooden huts to dry for 6 months.
Meanwhile, the workers make the bean pods soft and shiny by massaging dozens of times with their hands. Finally, the beans are selected and graded according to their quality.
Men and women in different vanilla-producing regions of the world have developed different cultivation, preparation and drying techniques according to the climate and species of vanilla plant grown to obtain the seeds. the most beautiful vanilla "classic great".
“Choosing a favorite vanilla bean makes no sense to me. Vanilla bean plantations are like vineyards. And just as there are many wine makers whose products are mediocre, a select few have the knowledge and savoir-faire needed to produce a superlative product. When selecting premium vanilla beans, the terroir, millesime, climate and botanical species all matter, but it is above all else a question of who cultivates and cures the beans—and how.”Olivier Roellinger