Vanilla

The genus Vanilla, a member of the enormous orchid family, includes about one hundred species, all of which are tropical vines with trailing stems that attach themselves to nearby trees. All species of vanilla produce elongated pods filled with tiny seeds, but only two species of vanilla (planifolia and tahitensis) are used for commercial purposes.

Vanilla is native to southern Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies. The source of its distinctive flavor is the “bean”—the long, flat, slender seedpod, which is odorless when picked. The distinctive vanilla aroma develops only when the pod is properly cured. In pre-Columbian times, the Totonac people discovered that beans left in the sun became fragrant, and they sold great quantities of the beans to the Aztecs, who called them tlilxochitl, or black flower.