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| The following very informative article on Vanilla can be viewed at and was extracted from: |
Vanilla |
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Vanilla planifolia
Vanilla planifolia
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Vanilla is a flavouring derived from orchids in the genus
Vanilla. The name came from the
Spanish word "vainilla", diminutive form of "vaina" (meaning "sheath"),
which is in turn derived from
Latin "vagina".
[1]
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See Vanilla (orchid) for more information on the plants in their natural habitat.
The main species harvested for vanillin is Vanilla planifolia. It is
a native of
Mexico, though it is now widely grown throughout the tropics.
Madagascar is the world's largest producer. Additional sources include
Vanilla pompona and Vanilla tahitiensis (grown in
Tahiti).
Vanilla is a
vine: it grows by climbing over some existing tree, pole, or other
support. It can be grown in a wood (on trees), in a plantation (on trees or
poles), or in a "shader", in increasing orders of productivity. Left alone, it
will grow as high as possible on the support, with few flowers. Every year,
growers fold the higher parts of the plant downwards so that the plant stays
at heights accessible by a standing human. This also greatly stimulates
flowering.
The part of the plant in which the distinctive flavoured compounds are found
is the fruit, resulting from the
pollination of the flower. One flower produces one fruit. Vanilla
planifolia flowers are
hermaphrodite: they carry both male (anther) and female (stigma) organs;
however, to avoid self-pollenization
(which would tend to result in genetic deficiencies), a membrane separates
those organs. Such flowers may only be naturally pollinated by a specifically
equipped
bee found in Mexico. Growers have tried to bring this bee into other
growing locales, to no avail. The only way to produce fruits is thus
artificial pollination.
A simple and efficient artificial
pollination method was introduced in 1841 by a 12 year-old slave named
Edmond Albius on
Réunion, then a French colony, in the
Indian Ocean. This method is still used today. Using a bevelled sliver of
bamboo[2],
an agricultural worker folds back the membrane separating the anther and the
stigma, then presses the anther on the stigma. The flower is then
self-pollinated, and will produce a fruit. The vanilla flower lasts about one
day, sometimes less, thus growers have to inspect their plantations every day
for open flowers, a labor-intensive task.
The
fruit (a seed pod), if left on the plant, will ripen and open at the end;
it will then exhaust the distinctive vanilla smell. The fruit contains tiny
black seeds, which, in ripe fruits, carry the vanilla flavour. These black
seeds are the tiny black specks found in dishes prepared with whole natural
vanilla. Vanilla planifolia seeds will not germinate in normal soil;
they need a certain
symbiotic mushroom.
Growers reproduce the plant by cutting: they cut sections of the vine with six
or more leaf nodes, which have a root opposite each leaf. The lower two leaves
are removed and this portion is covered in loose soil at the base of the
support tree or post. The remaining upper roots will cling to the support and
often will eventually also grow down into the soil. Growth is rapid under good
conditions.
Vanilla was a highly regarded flavoring in
Pre-Columbian
Mesoamerica, and was brought back to
Europe (and from there the rest of the world) by the
Spanish
Conquistadors.
In ancient Mexico
the Totonac
people were regarded as the producers of the best vanilla. The Totonac are
from the region that is 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 flavoring through the mid
19th century.
At that time,
French vanilla growers in Mexico traded their knowledge of
artificial pollination of flowers for the Totonac knowledge of preparing the
beans.
The Coca-Cola
Corporation is the world's largest customer of natural vanilla extract. When
New Coke was
introduced in 1985, the economy of
Madagascar
crashed, and only recovered after New Coke flopped. The reason was that New
Coke used
vanillin, a less expensive synthetic substitute, and purchases of vanilla
more than halved during this period.[citation needed]
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.
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For the main article on chemistry, see
vanillin.
Though there are many compounds present in the extracts of vanilla, the
compound predominantly responsible for the characteristic flavor and smell of
vanilla is known as
vanillin
(4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde). Another minor component of vanilla
essential
oil is
piperonal (heliotropin). Piperonal and other substances affect the odour
of natural vanilla.
Vanilla essence comes in two forms: the actual
extract of the seedpods, and the far cheaper synthetic essence, basically
consisting of a solution of synthetic vanillin in
ethanol.
Natural vanilla is an extremely complicated mixture of several hundred
different compounds, versus synthetic vanillin which is derived from
phenol and is
of high purity.
The beans are harvested green and immature. At this stage they are odorless.
The vegetative tissue of the vanilla pod is killed to prevent it from growing further after being harvested. The method of killing the tissue varies, but may be through: (1) sun killing, (2) oven killing, (3) hot water killing, (4) killing by scratching, or (5) killing by freezing.
The beans are then held for 7 to 10 days under humid and high temperature (45 º to 65 ºC) conditions, often by placing the beans in fabric covered boxes immediately after boiling. This allows enzymes to process the compounds in the beans into vanillin and other compounds important to the final vanilla flavor.
To prevent rotting and to lock the aroma in the pods, the beans are then dried, often by laying out in the sun during the mornings and then returned to their boxes in the afternoons. When the bean reaches 25-30% of its weight in moisture (as opposed to the 60-70% it began the drying process with) it has completed the curing process and will exhibit its fullest aromatic qualities.
When fully cured the vanilla is sorted by quality and graded.
| 2005 Top Vanilla Producers of the World (Production in tonnes) |
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|---|---|
.svg.png')){kind=small} Madagascar |
6,200 |
.svg.png')){kind=small} Indonesia |
2,399 |
){kind=small} China |
1,000 |
){kind=small} Mexico |
189 |
){kind=small} Turkey |
170 |
){kind=small} Comoros |
140 |
){kind=small} Tonga |
130 |
.svg.~.png')){kind=small} Belgium |
100 |
){kind=small} Uganda |
70 |
){kind=small} French
Polynesia |
50 |
){kind=small} Réunion |
35 |
){kind=small} Malawi |
20 |
){kind=small} Zimbabwe |
10 |
){kind=small} Portugal |
10 |
){kind=small} Kenya |
8 |
|
Guadeloupe |
8 |
| Source: UN Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO)[1] |
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There are three main commercial presentations of natural vanilla:
Vanilla flavor in creams, cakes and other foodstuff may be achieved by
adding some vanilla essence or by cooking vanilla beans in the liquid
preparation. A stronger aroma may be attained if the beans are split in two;
in this case, the innards of the beans (the seeds), consisting of flavorful
tiny black grains, are mixed into the preparation. Natural vanilla gives a
brownish to yellowish colour to preparations, depending on concentration.
Good quality vanilla has a strong aromatic flavour, but foodstuffs with small
amounts of low quality vanilla or artificial vanilla-like flavorings are far
more common, since true vanilla is much more expensive.
One major use of vanilla is in flavoring
ice cream:
the most common flavour of ice cream is vanilla, and thus most people consider
it to be the "default" flavor. By analogy, the term "plain vanilla" or just
"vanilla" is used as a synonym for "plain".
In old medicinal literature, vanilla is described as an
aphrodisiac
and a remedy for
fevers, but these purported uses have never been scientifically proven.
Methyl vanillin is used by the food industry as well as ethyl vanillin. The
ethyl is more expensive but has a stronger note.
Cook's
Illustrated ran several taste tests pitting vanilla against vanillin in
baked goods and other applications, and to the consternation of the magazine
editors, all tasters preferred the flavor of vanillin to vanilla.
Bourbon vanilla is the term used for vanilla coming from
Indian Ocean
islands such as
Madagascar,
Comoros, and
Réunion, which was the name of the Bourbon island when artificial
pollination was discovered. Some people regard the vanilla produced on Réunion
Island as the best quality.
Some connoisseurs still regard the Totonac vanilla as the best. It is
sometimes marketed in gourmet food stores as Mexican vanilla, although
Mexico also produces low-quality vanilla that sometimes shares this label. Be
warned that the "vanilla" sold in tourist markets around Mexico is not
vanilla, but in fact an extract of the
tonka bean
called coumarin.[citation needed]
While it smells and somewhat tastes like vanilla, coumarin has been shown to
cause liver damage in lab animals and is banned in the US by the
Food and Drug Administration.
Others regard
French
Polynesian vanilla as the best, particularly that produced on the island
of Tahaa.
The term French vanilla is often used to designate preparations that
actually have a strong vanilla aroma, and contain vanilla grains, but
originates from the French style of making ice cream
custard base
with vanilla beans,
cream, and
egg yolks.
Long ago vanilla was used in folk medicine.
Essential
oil of vanilla and vanilin were and are sometimes used in
aromatherapy.
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A vanilla plantation in open field on Réunion. Note that growers "fold"
the plant up and down so that the vine extends to manageable height.
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A vanilla plantation in a "shader" (ombrière) on Réunion.
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Flower
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Green fruits
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