Vanilla is one of the world’s most widely used flavoring agents, yet its history remains mysterious.
Vanilla does not come from beaver anal glands alone (although these do exist). Instead, its true source lies in a delicate orchid species which cannot survive outside of an narrow belt around the equator.
The Vanilla Orchid
Vanilla is one of the world’s most beloved flavors, yet less than one percent comes directly from nature – from vanilla orchids. Most commercial vanilla sold comes from synthetic chemical compounds instead despite being much better tasting than artificial flavorings.
Vanilla orchid (Vanilla planifolia Andrews) is an evergreen perennial vine in the orchid family, valued for its fragrant greenish-yellow flowers and fruit, which eventually develop into vanilla bean pods. As part of the epiphyte plant group, growth is assisted by wrapping itself around trees or tall plants for support. While native to Mexico and South Eastern Central America, today this species can be found cultivated worldwide in places like Madagascar, Indonesia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Venezuela.
Vanilla orchids are hermaphrodites, meaning they contain both male (anther) and female (stigma) organs, yet self-pollination is impossible due to a membrane separating their organs. As a result, flowers of vanilla orchids only open for approximately a day before closing back up again before needing human assistance to pollinate – an expensive and laborious process which accounts for its high cost.
Vanilla farmers use a toothpick-sized stick to pollinate vanilla flowers properly, moving pollen from one part of the flower to the next with ease. As such, each bloom only gets pollinated several times during its brief lifespan – something which results in vanilla bean pods (the raw material for vanilla extract) having their own distinct aroma and flavor when compared with imitation vanilla varieties.
Making natural vanilla extract takes an average of four to six months of flower development into vanilla bean pods. Once they have reached pod stage, they are then cured and fermented in order to extract their essential oil, giving vanilla its characteristic flavor. Producing one quart of natural vanilla requires around one or two beans. Thus making natural vanilla more expensive than artificial versions.
The Vanilla Bean
Vanilla beans are the unripened fruits of the vanilla orchid (Vanilla planifolia Andrews), typically sold in spice jars or long glass vials in supermarkets and grocery stores’ spice aisles. Their appearance resembles that of wrinkled almond pods with strong scents of vanilla mixed in with wood, cocoa and even rum-like aromas.
Vanilla bean pods contain thousands of tiny brown seeds that are extracted and used to flavor food products, most commonly sweet dishes like ice cream and custard as well as light-colored buttercreams that highlight its brown seeds. Vanilla’s distinctive fragrance and flavor come from complex scent compounds called flavour volatiles which scientists cannot replicate through synthetic vanilla extracts, and that’s one reason natural vanilla flavoring tastes so much better than artificial ones.
Growing vanilla is expensive due to its fragile nature; only opening for 12 hours at most and needing pollination immediately or else it wilts and dies. Since there’s no evidence that wild pollinators like hummingbirds or Melipona bees carry vanilla pollen, orchid flowers must be pollinated manually by hand pollination.
McGorrin details how scientists discovered in the late 19th century how to produce vanillin–the main chemical compound responsible for vanilla’s flavor and aroma–from cheaper sources than its source, the vanilla plant. Most commercial vanillin is today obtained via guaiacol, an artificial chemical composed largely of petroleum derivatives; wood pulp, pine bark and various nonfood materials may also be utilized to create synthetic vanilla extracts.
TikTok users who have reported hearing of castoreum as an ingredient that could provide vanilla flavouring are mistaken. Castoreum is actually produced as byproduct from beaver castor glands and produced to mark territorial boundaries; perfume makers also frequently incorporate castoreum into their fragrance products and some types of cigarettes contain it as an additive; the Food and Drug Administration approves castoreum as food additive, though typically listed simply as “natural flavoring” on product labels.
The Vanilla Extract
Vanilla is one of the world’s most beloved flavors, found everywhere from baked goods and desserts to deodorant. But rarely are we thinking of vanilla as anything more than a basic cooking ingredient – but where exactly does all that lovely liquid come from?
Vanilla pods used to flavor our sweet dishes are produced by a tropical species of climbing orchid. Each year, this annual bloom requires hand pollination with delicate petals; unfortunately this process can often prove too expensive when done manually. In 1841 however, an enslaved boy from Reunion developed an innovative hand-pollination technique that enabled vanilla cultivation outside Mexico’s borders; eventually leading to worldwide fame for this fragrant herb.
Vanilla extract is created by grinding up and soaking ground seeds in an alcohol solution to extract their flavors, then straining and bottling the liquid for sale. There are two kinds of vanilla extract available on the market – natural and imitation; imitation often acts as an inexpensive replacement to its real-deal counterpart; often made using synthetic vanillin derived from clove oil, wood pulp or cow feces and castoreum (extracted from beaver anal glands).
No doubt there are numerous advantages to purchasing genuine vanilla extract; however, making your own can save money and be made from beans you buy yourself and soak in vodka yourself. Once complete, your homemade extract should last months in your cupboard as long as it remains covered and regularly checked for mold or spoilage.
Vanilla is one of the world’s favorite flavors. Perhaps this will encourage you to purchase real vanilla when shopping for groceries next.
The Vanilla Sugar
Vanilla is one of the most beloved food ingredients, but many don’t realize where this versatile spice originates: from plants. Vanilla beans refers to seed pods from specific orchid species belonging to genus VANILLA which contain vanilla flavoring and contain the source for this ingredient’s delicious taste. Because vanilla beans come from fruits instead of spices or extracts, their cost tends to be significantly more costly.
Real vanilla production can be both expensive and time consuming due to the delicate orchid that forms its core, which requires particular conditions in which to flourish. As such, most vanilla beans are grown in warm tropical countries such as Mexico, Tahiti, Madagascar, Indonesia or India for best results.
To obtain our beloved vanilla flavor, we must first harvest seed pods containing vanilla seeds – a labor-intensive process which requires that a worker carefully select mature pods before hand-pollinating with sticks similar to toothpicks using hand pollination techniques and waiting months until its seeds develop into what we know as vanilla beans that can then be dried and shipped worldwide for use in products.
Sugar is an invaluable commodity that can be put to a variety of uses. From bakery goods and beverages to desserts and cocktails, sugar has many applications as a sweetener. In fact, when mixed with water it forms sweet vanilla syrup commonly used in cocktails and signature coffee drinks.
Though some vanilla sugar comes from whole vanilla beans, most synthetic vanilla is produced synthetically through dissolving vanillin into liquid base ethanol. The FDA allows manufacturers to label synthetic vanilla as “natural flavoring”, meaning it can be included in foods not otherwise labeled “natural.”
Truth be told, natural flavors defined by the Food and Drug Administration as those extracted from spices, fruits, vegetables, edible yeasts, herbs bark roots or leaves are much too expensive and labor intensive for food companies to use as they must also comply with stringent regulatory requirements for all-natural items they market as such. Many food companies often turn to artificial flavoring because using all-natural flavors would require extensive resources and labor investment – especially products marketed as such.
