Vanilla

The orchid that smells of ice cream

Vanilla is an orchid flower! When its long pod is dried, that familiar sweet smell appears. A vanilla flower opens for just one day, and in Mexico only one tiny bee can pollinate it. So in Madagascar people pollinate every flower by hand with a little stick! Vanilla is the second most expensive spice after saffron.

Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia) is an orchid vine native to Mexico and Central America; the Aztecs added it to their cacao drink ('tlilxochitl'). Outside Mexico it bore no fruit — until 1841, when a 12-year-old enslaved boy, Edmond Albius, on Réunion invented hand pollination; today 80% comes from Madagascar, all pollinated by hand. The flower opens for 1 day; the pod ripens for 9 months, then months of 'curing' (hot water, sun, sweating) create vanillin. At $300–600 per kg it is the second most expensive spice after saffron. 99% of the world's 'vanilla' flavour is synthetic vanillin (from wood lignin or petroleum): natural vanilla yields 2,000 tonnes a year against demand of over 20,000. Cyclones and theft in Madagascar swing the price wildly.

Fun facts

• Hand pollination of vanilla was invented by a 12-year-old boy (1841).
• 99% of the world's 'vanilla' flavour is not real vanilla.
• A vanilla flower opens for only one day.