The main types of vanilla from orchid plants are Vanilla planifolia (Bourbon vanilla) and Tahitian vanilla which contains vanillin. Because the production of vanilla beans is labor intensive, pure vanilla is second most expensive of all crops behind saffron. Usually orchid flowers are hand-pollinated. Often poro trees are used for nutrients and support. Use of the vanilla bean was recommended by alchemists in the past. Whole vanilla beans are now made into vanilla powder, vanilla flavoring, and aromatherapy essential oils. The uses for vanilla pod products include its addition to furniture polish as a SPIDER REPELLENT, in a SACHET, in jojoba oil for massage oils or other scented products, its use to fight irritability, alleviate a BURNT TONGUE, as a DEODORIZER or room air freshener, for TEETHING RELIEF, a STOMACH SOOTHER, as aphrodisiacs, and for flavoring. Avoid vanilla with coumarin a known carcinogen derived from the tonka bean.

From Orchid Plant To Vanilla Even though there are more than 150 varieties of vanilla orchids, only two species, Vanilla planifolia and Vanilla tahitensis (Tahitian vanilla), are normally grown for commercial use as a flavoring or fragrance. Growing location of the vanilla beans, soil, climate, and the curing process affects the quality determining flavor, aroma, and appearance.

Vanilla cultivation demands patience, hand-tending, faultless timing, and experience. Vanilla is one of the most labor intensive agricultural products, resulting in an expensive price. Of spices, only saffron is more expensive. Untended, vines climb up to 50 or 60 feet, so they must be pruned regularly to keep them manageable.
 
Hand Pollination

Host trees, often legumes such as poro trees, are planted to provide nitrogen to the soil, support for the vines, and shield from the sun. The vanilla vine wraps around the host tree or wooden posts, which are sometimes used.

It takes three years of growing to produce fruit. Usually, orchid flowers must be hand-pollinated. (To see why, see History below.) Vanilla beans are hand-picked seven to eight months after pollination before fully ripe, when only the tips of the bean are a bit yellow. This prevents the bean from splitting. Four to six months of curing begins with the beans being immersed in hot water. Then the beans are dried on mats in the hot sun. Nightly, the beans are wrapped in the mats, placed in drums, and stored in a warehouse to sweat. Several weeks of the sun and sweat process turns the beans brown and aromatic. The beans are moved to mesh racks to dry for two weeks and then stored in drums for a minimum of three months  to develop maximum flavor and scent. Lastly, the beans are sorted and graded according to quality based on their length, moisture content, luster, flexibility, and color. They are tied in bundles and packaged in airtight containers for sale and shipment. For each five pounds of vanilla beans harvested, only one pound is marketable.

Labor-intensive hand pollination of orchid flowers involves each flower being held to pry open the flower to obtain pollen for brushing across the stigma for fertilization. Since flowers lasts less than a day, pollinators go through the vines daily hand-pollinating 1,000 to 2,000 orchid flowers during the two-month blooming period.

Branding

Due to their value, vanilla beans are often branded with a distinct pinprick patterns resembling small, raised bumps to identify the grower and prevent theft.

History

Vanilla production began in Mexico where the orchid flowers were pollinated by the tiny, stingless Melipone bee, native to that region. Without pollination, no beans develop. When artificial pollination was discovered in 1836, Mexico lost its monopoly on vanilla bean production. Spanish conquistadors discovered vanilla in Mexico and took it back to Europe where Thomas Jefferson became acquainted with it as an ambassador to France. Jefferson returned to the United States in 1789 and asked that some vanilla be sent to him, leading to vanilla popularity here as flavoring, medicine, and aphrodisiacs.

As early as the 1700s, physicians and alchemists recommended a vanilla drink for male potency. Dr. Alan Hirsch, a neurologist with the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, discovered a connection between smell and sexual arousal, finding mature men responded most to one scent - vanilla.

Women in the 1700s hung vanilla beans in their homes, wore the pods in their hats, and rubbed the oil from drying beans on their skin. In the late 1800s, women used vanilla as a perfume for an innocent, sensual scent. Today vanilla is used in recipes, perfumes, scented products, and for medicinal purposes.

Other Uses for Vanilla

USE AS/FOR	HOW TO USE
STOMACH SOOTHER	Add pure vanilla to mineral water or apple juice for upset stomach.
TEETHING RELIEF or CRANKY CHILD	A few drops of vanilla flavoring in milk or juice can relieve a teething baby or a cranky child.
BURNT TONGUE RELIEF	After burning a tongue on hot or spicy food, a few drops of vanilla on the tongue can be soothing.
ROOM AIR FRESHENER or DEODORIZER	Use in candles to freshen the air or as a room air freshener by adding vanilla bean to a pan of simmering water on the stove.
SACHET	A vanilla pod placed in a linen closet or dresser drawers can be used as a sachet.
SPIDER REPELLENT	Add one or two vanilla beans to furniture polish to use on top and underneath furniture to keep spiders away. Spiders don't like the smell.
FISHING AID	Fishermen can rub vanilla on their hands before handling their line to disguise their scent.

Vanilla Varieties

Vanilla comes from the beautiful, exotic, versatile orchid plant that thrives in hot, humid tropical rainforests. Commercially, vanilla is grown in Madagascar, Mexico, Indonesia, and Tahiti. It is valued for its aroma, flavor, and therapeutic properties of calming, relaxing, and sensual allure. Due to vanilla’s popularity and usefulness, a wide variety of products are available. Forms available from Hope for Health include high quality gourmet vanilla beans, vanilla powder, and vanilla flavoring.

Whole vanilla beans are richer with more aroma than extracts. Premium quality vanilla beans have a rich, full aroma and feel oily. They should be flexible enough to bend without breaking and dark brown, almost black. There are differences in flavor and aroma between varieties.

SPECIES	GROWN IN	CHARACTERISTICS/COMMENTS
Vanilla planifolia	Indonesia, Mexico, and Guatemala. Vanilla grown on the islands of Madagascar, Reunion, and the Comoros is known as "Bourbon" vanilla. (Reunion and the Comoros were known as the Bourbon Islands in the early 1800s.)	The strong aroma is rich, creamy, sweet, and almost hay-like. These beans have a thicker skin, are longer than the Tahitian bean, and have more seeds. There are differences in taste depending on where the species is grown. Mexican vanilla beans have a spicy or woody fragrance and a more subtle taste than the more popular Bourbon beans.
Vanilla tahitensis	Tahitian vanilla beans are grown in the South Pacific	These beans are shorter at around six inches long, plumper, and contain more water and oil.  Their strong aroma is fruitier and floral.

Hope for Health offers a wide selection of high quality Bourbon and Tahitian vanilla beans from two-bean tubes to quarter of a pound and one-pound bulk packages.

 
Vanilla In Recipes 

The whole vanilla bean pod can be used in recipes. One inch of vanilla bean is approximately equal to one teaspoon of vanilla flavor. Slice beans lengthwise to expose the seeds and extract more flavor. The bean pod should be removed before serving, but the seeds may be scraped out of the pod to remain in the recipe.

VANILLA CAN BE USED AS/IN/WITH	HOW TO USE/BENEFIT
BEVERAGE or SYRUP	Beans may be infused in a liquid or a bean can be put in a coffeemaker to be brewed with coffee.
CAKES	Use according to recipe.
CHILI PEPPERS, HOT	Add to recipes that contain hot chili peppers to reduce the heat and enhance the flavor and sweetness of the peppers.
COOKIES	Use according to recipe.
MARINADES, SAUTÈING OILS, or SAUCES	Add for new flavor.
MEATS, SEAFOOD, and POULTRY	Add for seasoning.
OLIVE OIL or VINEGAR	Add to a bottle to bring new flavor to salad dressings.
SALADS with CITRUS FRUITS	Add a few drops for sweetness and to reduce adverse effects of citrus on the stomach.
SALSA, HOMEMADE	Add for new flavor.
SWEETS	Use according to recipe.
TOMATO SAUCE	Use to help neutralize the acidity.
VANILLA EXTRACT, HOMEMADE	Infuse a bean, sliced lengthwise, in a little brandy, bourbon, or rum for a month or longer.
VEGETABLES	Add a few drops of vanilla to bring out natural sweetness of the veggies.

Care

Full-flavored vanilla beans often can be used more than one time. Rinse, dry, and use again later, or grind to add to recipes.
 

Over time, high-quality Bourbon beans may develop crystals resembling white fur. These crystals indicate high quality and natural vanillin. However, mildew can develop on the outside of beans that has a bad odor and is a dull, flat color. Mildewed beans are thrown out before the mildew spreads to other beans. Dried out vanilla beans may be ground for use in recipes or added to warm liquid to extract the flavor. A dry vanilla bean added to hot chocolate is delicious.

Storage

Vanilla beans keep indefinitely stored in an airtight container in a cool, dark place, or if vacuum-packed. Keeping beans cool helps prevent mildewing, but they should not be refrigerated or frozen since this causes hardening and can promote mold growth.

True Vanilla Taste

Vanillin is a major flavor constituent of vanilla. The level of vanillin is measured in good quality vanilla to make sure it is high, but a synthetic vanilla has a flat taste even if natural vanillin is used in it's production. Flavor evaluators look for a variety of flavor characteristics such as woodiness, sweetness, creaminess, and smokiness. A chart called a spidergraph is often used to display vanilla evaluation results.

Vanilla Aromatherapy

Aura Cacia CO₂-extracted vanilla is available affordably in:
Precious Essential Oils and Precious Essential Personal Care Products.

Vanilla’s aroma can be used to create a mood that is comforting, relaxing, warm, and sensual. The exotic, pleasantly sweet, and powerful scent can counteract frustration, irritability, and tension. According to the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, vanilla can help promote sexual arousal in men and induce sleep and REM or dream state sleep more quickly.

Vanilla is unable to be adequately extracted by steam distillation. Low temperature, high pressure carbon dioxide liquid extracts aromatic components from vanilla using CO₂ extraction technology to produce vanilla absolute.  When returned to normal atmospheric conditions, the CO₂ escapes as a gas, resulting in a solvent-free vanilla absolute. Traditional absolute extractions have used chemical solvents that leave trace amounts of solvent behind. CO₂ extraction is more efficient and yields a higher quality product.
 

The combination CO₂-extracted vanilla and jojoba oil can be used by itself or with other aromatherapy essential oils for scented baths, body or massage oils, soaps, perfumes, candles, or other products, but not in food or cooking.
 

Vanillas to Avoid
 

Vanilla Mixed with the Impurity, Coumarin

Avoid bargain vanillas that have been mixed with the impurity coumarin derived from the tonka bean (Dipteryx ordorata) native to Brazil. It is similar to and less expensive than vanilla and is often added to vanillas from Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. It adds a strong vanilla-like aroma but little flavor. Coumarin is known to cause liver damage, is a potential carcinogen, and has been banned as a food ingredient by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States since 1954. Vanilla mixed with coumarin still comes into this country, usually through Mexico where it is not illegal.

Imitation Vanilla
Imitation vanilla is less expensive than pure vanilla because it is made from artificial flavorings, most commonly lignin vanillin, a chemically treated paper industry by-product, ethyl vanillin, and a coal-tar derivative.
 

Vanilla Flavor (WONF)
WONF indicates the product is made With Other Natural Flavors. The product contains other flavor ingredients, usually essential oils and botanical extracts, but can contain synthetic chemical carriers. Even if the additions are natural, less expensive components are used with a diminished real vanilla flavor. Try Frontier alcohol-free vanilla flavor made from vanilla extractives with no synthetic chemical carriers.