How Does Vanilla Grow?
Czas czytania: 4 minuty
Table of Contents:
- What Is Vanilla?
- The Vanilla Plant
- What Does Vanilla Look Like?
- Where Does Vanilla Come From?
- Where Does Vanilla Grow?
- How Does Vanilla Grow? Summary
Vanilla is a plant belonging to the orchid family. Yet it is not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of botany. Thanks to its unmistakable aroma, it is usually associated with desserts, which is a clue that it is in fact a spice. And indeed, the easiest place to find vanilla is on a supermarket shelf, where it appears as vanilla pods or as flavourings such as vanilla sugar, vanilla powder, vanilla oil, or vanilla extract.
What Is Vanilla?
Vanilla is used to flavour all kinds of dishes, and contrary to popular belief, not just desserts like cakes, creams, puddings, and ice cream. Anyone who has ever used vanilla, or eaten something with a vanilla flavour, knows just how hard that aroma is to forget. There is really nothing quite like it.
Vanilla has a sweet, warm scent. It is associated with elegance as well as cosiness, which is why it is often used in home fragrances such as scented candles and wax melts. It also turns up in the cosmetics and perfume industry, forming the main note, or one of the key notes, in many perfumes and body-care products.
Vanilla is a well-loved flavour. Even the youngest sweet-toothed eaters enjoy it in food, and as a home or cosmetic fragrance it is often described as comforting. Perhaps it is precisely because of its wide range of uses, and its association with pleasure, that people love vanilla so much.
The Vanilla Plant
There are more than 100 species of vanilla orchid in the world. Yet only one of them, flat-leaved vanilla (Vanilla planifolia), is used to produce the spice (read also: How to store spices?) and the vanilla extracts used in the food industry.
Research on the plant has revealed the presence of essential oils in vanilla. It turns out that vanilla oil can be used successfully in medicine and cosmetics. It has many valuable properties for health and skin care. Vanilla oil is used for massage, among other things, and as a tincture it can help with fevers and rheumatic pain. In aromatherapy, meanwhile, it has a regenerating, calming, soothing effect.
Vanilla is a fascinating plant to grow, but not exactly an easy one.
Years of observation have shown that vanilla flowers, which are yellow-green, bloom only once every few years (every 2-3 years), and the flowering period lasts 2-3 months. What is more, vanilla flowers are pollinated by specific species of bees and hummingbirds.
Unfortunately, its flowers are only open for a limited number of hours each day, and that is exactly when they need to be pollinated. Because of this, the flowers on vanilla plantations are pollinated by hand. If this does not happen, the flowers simply fall off. Once pollinated, the flowers take 9 months to ripen into pods. In shape they resemble green beans, and they are picked by hand.
When picked, vanilla pods have no scent at all. It is only after a long process of alternating drying and fermentation that they develop the aroma so well known in cooking, perfumes, and cosmetics. The intensity of the flavour and scent comes from a white bloom of vanillin that forms on the surface of the pods.
Because the growing process is so complex and labour-intensive, vanilla is a precious crop. Prices for vanilla spice and natural vanilla oils are very high; it is one of the most expensive spices in the world.
What Does Vanilla Look Like?
Vanilla looks like an orchid.
Its stems climb up the trunks and branches of trees. The trunk acts as a support structure for the vanilla, so its stems do not have to trail along the ground. A vanilla vine can grow up to 10 metres long. Vanilla leaves are fleshy, stiff, and flat, with an elliptical shape. The pods resemble green beans in shape and are actually capsules filled with thousands of seeds. The vines, pods, and leaves are light green to green in colour.
Flower buds and open flowers are greenish, cream, or yellow in colour. The flowers are fragrant and large, with petals measuring 5-7 cm.
After processing, vanilla pods turn brown to dark brown.
Where Does Vanilla Come From?
The first traces of vanilla, or mentions of the plant, appeared in Europe in the 17th century. Vanilla was brought to the European continent from South and Central America, carried over by Spanish conquistadors. Until the 19th century, Mexico was considered the homeland of vanilla. Tropical countries are generally regarded as its place of origin.
Where Does Vanilla Grow?
In the wild, vanilla grows in the tropical forests of South and Central America. Vanilla plantations can be found all over the world, in latitudes that match a tropical climate.
The most famous and prized vanilla comes from Madagascar, known as Bourbon vanilla. Madagascar is currently the largest producer of vanilla in the world. It is also where the method of hand-pollinating vanilla flowers was first developed.
How Does Vanilla Grow? – Summary
Vanilla is a vine that climbs upward along the trunks of other trees, which act as its support. In appearance, vanilla vines resemble lianas. The flowers of the vine, once successfully pollinated, turn into pods shaped like green beans.
Frequently Asked Questions
What plant family does vanilla belong to?
Vanilla belongs to the orchid family, even though it is mainly known as a culinary spice rather than an ornamental plant.
How many species of vanilla orchid is the spice made from?
Although there are more than 100 species of vanilla orchid in the world, the spice and extracts used in the food industry come from just one species: flat-leaved vanilla.
Where is vanilla used besides cooking?
Besides desserts and baking, vanilla is used in home fragrances such as scented candles and wax melts, as well as in the cosmetics and perfume industry as a fragrance note in perfumes and cosmetics.
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