History of Vanilla

My brother with the vanilla bean in my father oil palm plantation.

Vanilla was one of the many items of cuisine first encountered by the Spanish upon meeting with theAztecs, which they subsequently introduced into Europe. The Aztecs called vanilla tlilxóchitl words tlilli ("black") and xóchitl ("flower"). This name, given in spite of the vanilla flower's white or pale yellow colour, indicates that their focus was on the colour of the coveted ripe pod, rather than the flower petals. ("black flower"), derived from theNahuatl

In ancientMexico, the Totonac people were regarded as the producers of the best vanilla. The Totonac are from the region now known as the state of Veracruz (Papantla, Mexico, holds itself out as the origin of vanilla). They continued to be the world's chief producers of the flavouring through the mid19th century. At that time,French vanilla growers in Mexico traded their knowledge of artificial pollination for the Totonac knowledge of preparing the pods.

In 1518, while the Spanish Conquistador Cortez was seeking the treasures of the New World, he observed the Aztec emperor Montezuma enjoying a royal beverage of Vanilla scented chocolate. He was so impressed by thls kingly drink that when he and his men returned to Europe, they took bags of cocoa and Vanilla along with the gold, silver and jewels of Montezuma's fallen empire. Within half a century after Cortez made his discovery, Spanish factories were preparing Vanilla-flavored chocolate. For some time Europeans continued to use Vanilla only in combination with the cocoa bean.

In 1602, however, Vanilla began to be used as a flavoring on its own, the suggestion of Queen Elizabeth's apothecary, Hugh Morgan. Since then Vanilla has soared in popularity, making it more popular than chocolate or any other flavor known before or since. For more than 300 years after its discovery by Cortez, Vanilla was produced only in its native Mexico.

Plantings were tried in many countries, but the delicate orchid never bore fruit. The mystery was not solved until 1836, when a Belgian named Charles Morren found that common insects cannot pollinate the Vanilla orchid. He observed that a tiny bee, the Melipone, which is found only in the Vanilla districts of Mexico, is uniquely equipped to bring the plant to fertilization. The bee did not survive outside Mexico and so Morren developed a method of hand-pollinating Vanilla blossoms.

Shortly after Morren's discovery, the French started to cultivate Vanilla on many of their islands in the Indian Ocean, East and West Indies and French Oceania, the Dutch planted it in Indonesia and the British in Southern India. Eventually the French took Vanilla to Reunion, an island off Madagascar's coast. There a former slave named Edmond Albius perfected a quick and simple method of hand-pollinating which is still used to this day.

This was the impetus of major cultivation in the Indian Ocean area. Scientists specializing in biotechnology have been working for several years with Vanilla plants to improve and optimize the vanilla flavor. They use tissue culture techniques to propagate Vanilla orchid plant cells with desirable flavor characteristics.

For centuries, vanilla has been one of the most familiar flavors, fundamental to western cuisine. Commonly used to flavor desserts, beverages, milk products, and coffee, vanilla has become one of the most loved flavors of the western palate.

It is believed, the Totonaca people of Mexico were the first cultivators of vanilla, during Mesoamerican times. They believed that the Gods had bestowed this exotic fruit upon them. Vanilla continues to be cultivated in the eastern portions of tropical Mexico.

In the 14th century, the Spanish conquistadors under Cortez, watched Montezuma, Emperor of the Aztecs, pulverize vanilla beans, combine them with chocolate and serve it as a drink in golden goblets to his most honored guests.

The Spanish caught on quickly and by the middle of the 15th century, were importing it to Europe to use as a flavor in the manufacture of chocolate.

As European explorers and their attendant botanical recorders and collectors combed the forests of Central and South America, vanilla became more common in Europe. Europeans followed the example of the tribes in the New World and used vanilla in the production of medicine, as a nerve stimulant and as an aphrodisiac.

By the early 1800's vanilla plants were growing in botanical collections in Germany and France. Horticulturists were experimenting with conditions for its growth. From Europe it was transported to Reunion, Mauritius and the Malagasy Republic. In the new tropical colonies, slave labor discovered that hand pollination of the flowers was necessary to produce vanilla beans.

From these points, vanilla plants were taken to Indonesia, the Seychelles, and the Comoros Islands. At approximately the same time, vanilla was introduced as a crop in Martinique and Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.

The market price of vanilla rose dramatically in the late 1970s, due to a typhoon. Prices stayed stable at this level through the early 1980s, due to the pressure of recently introduced Indonesian vanilla. In the mid 1980s, the cartel that had controlled vanilla prices and distribution since its creation in 1930 disbanded. Prices dropped 70% over the next few years, to nearly $20 USD per kilo. This changed, due to typhoon Huddah, which struck early in the year 2000. The typhoon, political instability, and poor weather in the third year drove vanilla prices to an astonishing $500 USD per kilo in 2004. A good crop, coupled with decreased demand, have pushed the market price down to the $40 per kilo range in the middle of 2005.

(Source: Internet)