Vanilla: A History
The 600 Year History of Vanilla Extracts
Vanilla is the only edible fruit of the orchid. It grows naturally in the southern coasts of Mexico, through Central America and the Caribbean to the Northeastern tip of South America. The Totonacs of Veracruz, Mexico are credited as its first cultivators.
The Totonacs considered vanilla a sacred herb and used it in ritual offerings, as a perfume and for medicine, but rarely as a flavoring. By the early 1400s, the Aztecs added to the mystique of vanilla by combining it with chocolate to create the drink chocolatl, which Montezuma served to Cortez upon his arrival in the Aztec capital, Tenochititlan. Cortez took the fragrant bean along with Cacao pods back to Spain.
In the 16th century Spanish and Portuguese sailors and explorers brought vanilla into Africa and Asia. They called it vainilla, or "the little pod".
Up until the 19th century Mexico was the chief producer of vanilla.
In 1819 French entrepreneurs shipped vanilla to Réunion, Mauritius and Comoros islands east of Madagascar in the Indian ocean. It was there that a way to hand pollinate vanilla was discovered. With the ability to hand pollinate, the vanilla pods began to flourish. Later, vanilla orchids were taken to Madagascar. By 1898 vanilla production in that part of the world was booming. Madagascar, Réunion, and the Comoros Islands were producing 200 metric tons of vanilla beans a year, about 80% of the world vanilla production.