Nevertheless, vanilla is widely used in both commercial and domestic baking, perfume production, and aromatherapy, as only small amounts are needed to impart its signature flavor and aroma.ĭrawing of the Vanilla plant from the Florentine Codex (c. Vanilla is the second-most expensive spice (as measured in terms of average price by unit of weight) after saffron because growing the vanilla seed pods is labor-intensive. Madagascar's and Indonesia's cultivations produce two-thirds of the world's supply of vanilla. planifolia species, more commonly known as Bourbon vanilla (after the former name of Réunion, Île Bourbon) or Madagascar vanilla, which is produced in Madagascar and neighboring islands in the southwestern Indian Ocean, and in Indonesia. The majority of the world's vanilla is the V.

pompona, found in the West Indies, Central America, and South America. tahitensis, grown in the South Pacific and V. fragrans), grown on Madagascar, Réunion, and other tropical areas along the Indian Ocean V. Three major species of vanilla currently are grown globally, all of which derive from a species originally found in Mesoamerica, including parts of modern-day Mexico. By the end of the 20th century, Albius was considered the true discoverer. Noted French botanist and plant collector Jean Michel Claude Richard falsely claimed to have discovered the technique three or four years earlier. Hand-pollination allowed global cultivation of the plant. In 1841, Edmond Albius, a 12-year-old slave who lived on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean, discovered that the plant could be hand-pollinated. The method proved financially unworkable and was not deployed commercially.

In 1837, Belgian botanist Charles François Antoine Morren discovered this fact and pioneered a method of artificially pollinating the plant. Pollination is required to make the plants produce the fruit from which the vanilla spice is obtained. Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily obtained from pods of the species, flat-leaved vanilla ( V. planifolia).

Wild vanilla powder