Vanilla

“Vanilla has long been the best-selling ice cream flavor not only because it is creamy and delicious, but also because of its ability to enhance so many other desserts and treats.” (source)

Vanilla: Travels in Search of the Ice Cream Orchid by Tim Ecott (published 2004)

Vanilla! A flavor that almost everyone loves, even though many people think it’s somehow neutral — just plain vanilla. Vanilla is not always easy to identify, but you really notice something is wrong when it should be present but isn’t. And experts totally agree that artificial vanilla flavoring is really inferior to the organic flavor that comes from real vanilla beans, grown only in tropical areas.

A good example of the subtlety of this flavor is the complexity of colas — vanilla is a key component of these long-popular beverages, most notably Coca-Cola. Vanilla Coke has been introduced and then discontinued in various markets several times: the added vanilla taste intensifies the impact of the more subtle vanilla note in the secret formula for ordinary Coke. 

Maybe you like Coke, maybe you don’t, but you know what it tastes like, and would miss the vanilla if it was left out. Some people say that the absence of vanilla was the problem with New Coke that flopped spectacularly in 1985 and is now essentially forgotten.

Like many favorite flavors, including chocolate, with which it’s often paired, vanilla comes from a New-World plant, or plant family: the vanilla orchids. Vanilla cultivation originated in Mexico and Central America. Production now takes place in many tropical locations, especially in French colonies and former French colonies. Vanilla orchids of several species produce a pod filled with small brown beans, which can be dried and cured to produce the familiar aromatic flavoring. It’s often preserved in alcohol in the form of vanilla extract.

Good to eat…Vanilla ice cream, vanilla wafers, vanilla pudding, and vanilla extract.
The tiny specks in rich vanilla ice cream are the seeds that are left in when processing the beans.

Sadly, Trader Joe’s currently doesn’t have those wonderful vanilla wafers any more. And sadly, most brands of “vanilla” wafers use artificial flavoring, which just isn’t as good as the essential flavor derived from actual vanilla beans that are laboriously cultivated, cured, and preserved. Most brands of vanilla pudding mix also use artificial vanilla, though it’s not that hard to make it from milk, sugar, starch, maybe an egg — and REAL vanilla extract. Follow a vanilla pudding recipe and you’ll have a treat that was once a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I in her last years before she died in 1603.

Did you ever hear the story of the novice cook whose salad recipe called for plain yogurt?
And who therefore naively bought vanilla yogurt? Not good in salad dressing?

Coke isn’t the only vanilla-flavored beverage. Quite a few liqueurs are flavored with vanilla. And as you probably know, almost every good cup of cocoa has a hint of vanilla in it. A dash of vanilla in the hot chocolate was even the tradition of the Aztecs, who introduced chocolate to the Spanish conquistadors. Their recipe also called for hot chilis, though.

In 2019 we visited Tahiti, including a vanilla plantation. Here, you can see the flowers, the pods, and a bottle of vanilla extract. Each growing area has its own characteristic flavors, especially Madagascar, Tahiti, and Mexico. 

The aroma of vanilla is so special, especially in a carefully designed combinations, that it’s even used in making perfumes. Some of these are: Shalimar by Guerlain, Chanel N° 5, Thierry Mugler’s Angel, Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium, Dune by Dior, and Tresor by Lancome. (Vanilla p. 155)

In Ecott’s Book

Author Tim Ecott isn’t as interested in culinary uses for vanilla as I am. Vanilla is more of a travel book, in which he visited vanilla-growing regions in Mexico, Madagascar, Tahiti, the Island of Réunion and other places where vanilla is grown and where the beans are cured. He’s very interested in the economy of vanilla, and in the secretive commodity dealers and traders who buy it and ship it to first-world countries where it’s widely used. 

The horticultural history of vanilla is also of serious interest to Ecott, especially the famous story of the young enslaved boy who figured out the challenge of how to fertilize the plant in the absence of the insect that does the job in its native environment. The vanilla orchid is  a finicky plant: it has to be pollinated or it won’t produce the beans; while a symbiotic insect did the job in the original environment in Central American jungles, it has to be done by hand by growers elsewhere. 

That’s quite a story in itself, as you may know — after years of growing vanilla vines that produced no fruit, one plantation owner was surprised to find a few with pods on them. The year was 1841, and the location was the island of Réunion. This success was due to a very young enslaved boy named Edmond Albius, who had realized that one could gently open the flower and force the pollen to fertilize the plant, thus replacing the work of the insect. To be exact, he figured out how “to peel back the lip of the small orchid with his thumb, and with the aid of a small stick, lift the rostellum out of the way and press the anther and the stigmatic surfaces together.” (p. 91)

For a modern educated person this process may seem obvious — even elementary school children learn about plants. However, 200 years ago the understanding of how plants were fertilized had not yet been developed, so this was a major breakthrough. Poor Edmond, though, never received any reward for his work, and lived a hard and ordinary life, first as a slave and when slavery was abolished as a very poor freed man. Vanilla farms throughout the tropics adopted his method, which continues to be employed even today.

In Polynesia, where we toured this vanilla farm, the orchid vines are grown under roofs.
One huge problem with Ecott’s book is that there are no photos, drawings, maps, or other illustrations.

The Vanilla Economy 

Over 20 years ago when Ecott was traveling and writing, problems of supply and demand were already occurring. Vanilla prices were rising rapidly when he toured the vanilla production areas of Madagascar, the world’s major producer. These were a result of political corruption, social inequality, price fixing, and other third-world problems. The agricultural workers were underpaid, and theft was a major issue. Since Ecott’s publication, the prices have fluctuated wildly, with a major drop in price shortly after his visit. Political and social problems continue — along with plant diseases and impacts of destructive weather due to climate change. Ecott’s story is a bit out of date, but the major issues repeat themselves in every generation, it seems. 

What is the Future of Vanilla?

An article in the New York Times a few days ago summarized the current, and rather bleak recent past and the possible depressing future of vanilla. Author Aimee Nezhukumatathil, wrote about vanilla cultivation in “This Is How the World’s Favorite Scent Disappears.” Here is her key paragraph about the current situation:

“Most commercial production of vanilla is in Madagascar, Mexico and Tahiti. As the world warms, cyclones and storms in these regions are growing stronger, toppling the orchid blossoms and vanilla beans before they get a chance to fully mature. In 2017 a Category 4-equivalent cyclone devastated an estimated 30 percent of the vanilla vines in Madagascar, which produces 80 percent of the vanilla used around the globe. As a result, the price of vanilla bean pods surged to nearly $300 a pound. The increasingly erratic weather, along with pressure to cut the forests that harbor the orchids, is particularly worrisome for farmers who rely on this crop and wait up to four years for a single orchid to blossom.”

Severe weather events continue to affect Madagascar, including one in March of this year, according to an AP article dated March 29, 2024. The cyclone caused severe flooding and killed 18 people.

“Madagascar has been hit by at least 10 strong tropical cyclones since the start of 2022 and is facing a hunger crisis in parts of the island, due to the damaging impact of extreme weather, according to the World Food Program.”

Vanilla is an important source of income for this unfortunate island, which produces 80 to 85% of the world’s vanilla. For us in the more fortunate temperate zones, the crisis of climate change is a detail in our still-rich diet, where we have many good flavors to choose from. But will we continue to have vanilla ice cream, Thomas Jefferson’s favorite that he introduced to America? Will other superb vanilla cookies disappear the way Trader Joe’s Ultimate Vanilla Wafers did a few years ago? Will climate change and unwillingness of third-world peasant laborers to continue working contribute to declining supplies of vanilla for first-world connoisseurs? We don’t know.

Blog post © 2024 mae sander.

Shared with Elizabeth’s weekly blog party.