Vanilla: A History

[Music] vanilla is a term that has come to mean standard ordinary gosh even boring but the history of the plant from which real vanilla is derived is really anything but the vanilla plant is a type of orchid that is native to the americas and vanilla flavoring didn't reach the old world until the 16th century but the story is really much more complex than that it's a centuries-long story that includes a newly forgotten child genius the miracles of modern chemistry and a flavoring that is far more complex than we give it credit for it might surprise you to find out that the vanilla flavoring that you likely have in your kitchen is probably not made from real vanilla at all but from a synthesized version as is the vanilla in around 95 percent of the vanilla flavored and scented products the history of vanilla deserves to be remembered vanilla flavoring comes primarily from a specific species of orchid vanilla planifolia orchids are one of the largest families in biology with 28 000 recognized species twice the number of recognized bird species and four times the number of mammal species the planifolia one of over a hundred species of vanilla orchids and a small number of similar species are the only orchids widely used for commercial purposes vanilla plants are a vine which uses stiff roots to support the plant as it off grows often up the sides of trees its roots are air roots meaning that they don't grow into the earth but get their nutrients and water directly from the surface of the trees they grow on older plants will eventually put roots shallowly into the ground at the foot of the tree when cultivated it requires a trellis or support in order to grow the flowers are yellow green and the flowers only last for one day if they aren't pollinated the first people to cultivate the vanilla flower were central americans possibly the tonic an indigenous mexican people native to the gulf coast they considered the orchid a sacred plant and primarily used it for ceremonial purposes not culinary ones that totonox were conquered by the aztecs who called it black flower after the dark color of the dried fruit the aztecs use the flavoring in chocolate especially a chocolate drink after montezuma's capture the spanish were said to have seen the aztec king drinking chocolate made with powdered cocoa and flavored with honey and ground vanilla pods the spanish were so impressed by this new taste sensation that they took samples back to spain their vanilla made perhaps an even larger splash than chocolate by 1700 vanilla was used across the continent but mexico was its only producer the name vanilla comes from the spanish name for it which is unrelated to the original aztec name comes from the word vina changed to the diminutive by nia meaning little pod and then later to the english vanilla the first vanilla orchid the flower in europe was in a london collection and cuttings from it were sent to france in the netherlands the flavor became the go-to for the wealthy and the royal they drank it in hot chocolate like the aztecs had in the 1600s and madame de pompadour hostess and mistress of king louis xv was said to flavor her soups with it the king of spain's physician thought it was a miracle drug that could cure snake bites and in 1762 a german physician even claimed it cured impotence thomas jefferson was known to add vanilla to his ice cream and his recipe for it is preserved in the library of congress despite its popularity how to cultivate the flower and coats it to produce fruit remained a mystery for 300 years the europeans had no idea how the plant was pollinated in fact the pollination and fruiting of the vanilla plant is somewhat complex as early as 1819 french entrepreneurs had attempted to bring the orchid to other colonies such as their indian ocean possessions of reunion and mauritius with no success other examples grown in greenhouses in europe similarly simply refused to produce fruit in 1836 belgian horticulturalist charles was living in veracruz drinking coffee on a patio he noticed a number of black bees hovering around vanilla flowers near his table and observed them climbing into the flower and then working their way into a flap in the flower to transfer pollen the flower soon closed and within a few days began forming pods moren immediately began experimenting with hand pollination vanilla orchids are only rarely pollinated naturally and only a few species of bee and hummingbirds are known to pollinate the plant the bees proved impossible to transplant to other locations the essential complication in pollinating of vanilla flower is that the plant is hermaphroditic contains both a male flower organ called an anther and a female a stigma however the flower is unable to self-pollinate as there is a membrane which separates the two organs the bees are able to take pollen from one and carrying to the other side of the membrane which quickly causes the plant to produce seed pods warren came up with a means of pulling the flower by hand but unfortunately his method proved painstaking and financially unworkable for large-scale cultivation because of its popularity and its scarcity vanilla has traditionally been one of the most expensive spices in the world second only to saffron its rarity and the fact that it could only be produced in mexico seemed to be unavoidable but then an enslaved 12 year old changed the vanilla game forever edmund albius was born in about 1829 on reunion vanilla plants had been brought to reunion in the 1820s in the hopes of starting a successful crop but while the vines would grow they would not produce any seeds as local beads and insects wouldn't pollinate them therial believe beaumont who had held edmund in slavery said he'd been walking with the boy when he came upon one of his vanilla plants one of only a handful that still survived in 1841. to his surprise edmund showed bum out a pair of pods and then he made the staggering proclamation that he himself had pollinated the plant evan said he came up with a solution after learning to fertilize a watermelon with a tiny tool a piece of grass or a sliver of wood he found that one could easily open the flap between the two parts of the flower and with a simple thumb movement pollinated not only did the method only take a few seconds but the plant almost immediately showed signs of producing its fruit edmond was able to easily replicate his method and beaumont sent him around the island to teach other plantations how to pollinate the plant just like that an enormous industry was born edmund's solution remains the primary means of pollinating vanilla plants today while simple growing vanilla remains one of the most labor intensive of any crop vanilla plants take several years to produce flowers we'll only germinate new plants if in the presence of certain fungi so most growers grow new plants by making cuttings the flower lasts only a few days or less so planters have to constantly look for new blooms and pollinate them immediately even after the plant fruits that fruit has to be left on the plant for nine months before the pods that look like string beans are hand-picked and then go through a multi-step weeks-long curing process despite the obstacles vanilla production boomed on reunion the name for the most widely used natural vanilla is bourbon vanilla because reunion was called the ill de bourbon in the 19th century after the french ruling family reunion exported no vanilla in 1841 but by 1848 it was shipping two tons nine years later that number increased tenfold to 20 tons and by 1898 200 tons reunion quickly became the world's largest producer of vanilla beans edmond was given his last name and freed by beaumont for his work and beaumont even wrote to the governor saying that edmund should be given a cash stipend for his role in making the vanilla industry edmund was later arrested and convicted for stealing jewelry but beaumont interceded on his behalf telling the governor that if anyone has a right to clemency into recognition for his achievements it is edmund it is entirely due to him that this country owes a new branch of industry edmund was released a frenchman attempted to usurp edmond's accomplishments for his own in the 1860s but again beaumont set the record straight unfortunately though edmund never prospered from his work was never given a stipend he died at the age of 51 destitute and miserable end according to a local paper demand for vanilla continued unabated however plants were transported to madagascar where the industry flourished madagascar remains the largest producer of natural vanilla in the world in madagascar vanilla rustling was enough of a problem that growers developed a kind of brand where they would cut the pods with pins or a knife that would remain visible even after the pods were dried even today madagascar vanilla farms deal with thievery natural vanilla is made up of several hundred compounds but the main note and the compound that gives vanilla its signature aroma and flavor is called vanillin vanillin was isolated as a more or less pure substance in 1858 in 1874 german scientists did use vanilla's chemical structure and discovered a way to produce a synthetic vanillin from pine sap the discovery caused a brief depression and natural vanilla prices but only after the scientists perfected the synthesis of vanilla from guayaqual natural substance that can be derived from some flowers and from wood creosote others discovered that vanilla can be derived from clove oil or even from castorium a secretion from the anal glands of beavers in the 1930s synthetic vanillin became more available thanks to the use of lignin and organic polymer which could be found in discarded remnants of wood pulp preparation today most synthetic vanillin is made from guayakol vanilla became popular in desserts especially in europe in the united states the first appearance of vanilla in a cookbook was in 1805 which suggested adding it to chocolate but demand ballooned by the end of the century as vanilla became the established favorite in ice cream and an essential ingredient in john s pemberton's coca-cola introduced in 1886. vanilla has become a significant ingredient in cakes custards and other desserts as well french vanilla is a term used to describe a particular preparation with a strong vanilla aroma often containing the black specks of vanilla seeds and sometimes containing eggs the term comes from the french style of making vanilla ice cream with a custard base natural vanilla has a different flavor from the synthetic kind largely because naturally vanilla contains a large number of compounds while synthetic vanilla is usually made up only of vanillin in the more modern era natural vanilla production remains a small compared to the production of the synthetic kind in 2001 global demand for vanilla was around 12 000 tons but only 1800 tons of natural vanilla were produced this explains why so many vanilla flavored or scented products are made with artificial vanilla demand for the bean almost always well outpaces production hurricanes that hit vanilla producing countries have also driven up prices dramatically madagascar remains the largest producer producing 48 of the global crop in 2014 and as much as 80 percent of the world's vanilla beans in 2016. in 2017 madagascar was hit by hurricane inaudible which may have destroyed 30 percent of the country's vanilla crop this has led to an enormous price volatility 2010 vanilla being sold for 20 a kilogram but in 2016 they soaked for almost 500 a kilogram in 2014 national geographic reported that synthetic vanillin is at least 20 fold cheaper than real vanilla today vanilla is one of the most widely used flavorings in the world the 2018 book biotechnology and natural products described it as the world's most popular food compound well it's come to be thought of as sort of old-fashioned is still by far america's favorite ice cream flavor according to the international ice cream association it appears in hundreds of different products and not just desserts but commonly in things like say coffee and whiskey historically vanilla is one of the world's most important spices but it is still very important today in both the food industry and the perfume industry and it's even used to cut the naturally unpleasant odor of rubber in fact vanilla is so omnipresent that you likely encountered it today even if you didn't notice it while its reputation has come to be something plain in terms of its impact on human history it's anything but i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guy short snippets of forgotten history between 10 and 15 minutes long and if you did enjoy please go ahead and click that thumbs up button if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for future episodes please write those in the comment section i will be happy to personally respond be sure 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Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 125,604

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, vanilla, food history

Id: N3PsOz-js5o

Length: 12min 10sec (730 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 22 2021