HISTORY AND CULTIVATION OF VANILLA

HISTORY

Vanilla is native to Mexico and the botanical name is: Vanilla Planifolia, it is part of orchid family, it lives in the tropical understory forests.

It was King Luis XIV who decided to introduce in on island of Bourbon (Reunione), but all attempts failed.

For more than two centuries from 17th to 18th century, the Mexico retains its monopoly on vanilla and remained the leading producer until the middle of the 19th century, all attempts to reproduce the vanilla outside its territory failed. It was unknown that the Melipona bees have a very important role in the pollination of vanilla.

The first artificial pollination of vanilla took place in 1836 apparently by the Belgian botanist Charles Morren.

In the 1841 a twelve-year-old the slave Edmond Albius, on Bourbon island, developed a practical procedure that is still use. Thus the island of Bourbon became the first production center on the planet.

In the 1880 the farmers of Reunione introduced the cultivation of vanilla to Madagascar. The first plantations are created on the island of Nosy Be. Subsequently also on the eastern region of Madagascar, Sambava and Antalaha with a warm/humid climate, ideal for cultivation of vanilla. Production increased reaching 1,000 tons in 1929.

Despite competition from other tropical countries, Madagascar still maintains its position as the world's leading exporters.

CULTIVATION

To grow the vanilla needs a warm humid climate and anchoring support to ding to and not too much light and not to mach shade either. In the undergrowth, tree trunk are used as support.

Pollination must always be done manually from flower to flower. It is done early in the morning. The flowers have short life, a few hours from beginning of the day, when there is not humidity, the rain does not alow the flowers to form.

PREPARETION

The transformation of the odorless fruits into a delicate spice, requires a very long and meticulous preparation lasting about ten months. after harvesting, the pods are immersed in hot water at 75 degrees for no more than three minutes otherwise the burst and then dried and exposed to the sun until fully ripe, at this point the vanilla will have developed all its aromatic and organoleptic characteristics and will then marketed. A good quality pod not be marketed must not be less than 15 cm. It must not any tears, or breaks, or it must be soft enough that we can roll it around a finger.The smaller or poorer quality size are used to obtain vanilla extract or other by-products.

Image 1: Vanilla Flower. - Image 2: Pollinated Flower. - Image 3: Vanilla Pods.