Vanilla

The vanilla orchid, Vanilla pinafolia, is a treasured vine, a native plant that originally grew wild in the Caribbean, Central American and Mexican rainforests. The vine would climb until it reached the top of the forest canopy, but as it grew taller it used more energy and produced fewer flowers.

The Totonac people, whose descendants still live on the east coast of Mexico, looped the vines so that they reached no higher than five feet, and the stalks responded by producing more blossoms for the hummingbirds, bees and ants to pollinate. The small greenish flowers bloom for just one day. The flowers not visited by pollinators wilt in the afternoon and drop to the ground by nightfall.

Pollinated blossoms produce pods similar to elongated string beans and they are known as vanilla beans. Neither the flower nor the pod has the distinctive vanilla scent. Only when the pods are fermented and cured do they release the taste and fragrance that we now recognize as the chemical compound vanillin.

The Totonacs were determined to increase vanilla production and they learned how to remove the membrane that separates the male and female parts of the orchid. That membrane prevents self-pollination, and when their technique was successful and produced more vanilla, the Totonacs said it was "the marriage of vanilla."

Patricia Rain, anthropologist/writer and author of "The Vanilla Cookbook", finds it "remarkable that ancient people discovered a method of cultivation very much like the one we use today."

For more than a thousand years the Totonacs revered the vanilla bean. They savored its flavor in their food and drink. They integrated vanilla into their myths, culture and religion. They found it had medical properties and used it as an insect repellent and potent aphrodisiac.

Little wonder that the Totonacs never forgave the Aztecs who invaded their land, subjugated the people and forced them to pay tribute with part of the annual vanilla harvest. They chafed under Aztec domination but could not free themselves.

In 1520 Hernan Cortez enlisted Totonac help in his campaign to oust the Aztecs from their land. The Totonacs thought they would escape their oppressors, but Cortez never rewarded their services. He treated them disdainfully and raised their taxes. His followers relished vanilla and probably brought it to Spain. Vanilla was eagerly accepted as an expensive perfume as well as a flavoring, but it was a luxury so rare that it was rationed to kings.

The French were enamored of vanilla. To reduce its cost they arranged to have Mexican vanilla cuttings shipped to Madagascar, Reunion and other French colonies. By 1730 the cuttings were established on several islands, but the vines seldom flowered and few pollinators reached them. When that enterprise failed the Totonacs gained another grip on the world vanilla trade. For more than a century they shrewdly retained a monopoly, demanding high prices for their product, until finally their competitors learned the secret of "the marriage of vanilla" – whether this was the result of espionage or an independent discovery we do not know.

The Totonac monopoly came to an end in 1841 in the island of Reunion when a thin stylus was used to remove the membrane preventing self-pollination. "The marriage of vanilla" was revealed. Vanilla plantations now flourish in tropical areas throughout the world.

In Mexico wild vanilla vines grow at the edges of pastureland that had formerly been rainforest. Today’s Totonacs tend cattle or labor in the fields, while Madagascar is now the leading vanilla-producing country of the world.

When the All-American  vanilla orchid embellishes the all-American
bromeliad pineapple, the pineapple nut cake should be celebrated on  the 4th of July.

Pineapple Nut Cake