Vanilla

Vanilla spp.

spice

The dried pod of a climbing orchid from tropical America, a vine that climbs more than ten metres up its support; its scent comes from vanillin.

Origin

Mexico; grown in Madagascar and Réunion

Season (United States)

imported · all year round

Preparation

The split pod is steeped and then taken out; its seeds, scraped out, are eaten.

Molecules

Phenolic acids

Did you know?

Away from its homeland its pollinators are missing: each flower is pollinated by hand, with the gesture invented in 1841, aged 12, by Edmond Albius, an enslaved child from Réunion — a thin stick and the thumb.