What is the vanilla flower?
Vanilla is an evergreen vine that can reach up to 15m in length. It has thick stems and greenish to yellow flowers. The fruits are long, thin pods that contain thousands of tiny, black seeds. Vanilla has fleshy aerial roots that cling to trees and allow it to climb. There are nearly 150 species of vanilla in the orchid family, but only two are commonly grown and used. These are Vanilla Planifolia and Vanilla Tahitensis. Roughly 90% of all cultivated vanilla is Vanilla Planifolia and about 10% Vanilla Tahitensis.Cultivating a high-quality vanilla bean can be an arduous task. What we call a vanilla bean is actually a pod-shaped fruit that grows on a climbing orchid vine. Outside of Mexico, where the plant originated and where it has native pollinators, orchid flowers need to be pollinated by hand.Vanilla is grown within 10-20 degrees of the equator. Most vanilla beans available today are from Madagascar, Mexico and Tahiti.
Is vanilla a luxury crop?
Despite its ubiquitous association with everyday staples like ice cream and baked goods, vanilla remains a luxury commodity—second only to saffron in global spice valuation (Spence, 2022), valued at $600/kg ($272. Khan at al. In 2023, Top importers of Vanilla are European Union ($205,068. K , 1,204,600 Kg), United States ($194,351. K , 1,283,430 Kg), France ($133,299. K , 818,953 Kg), Germany ($50,768. K , 409,367 Kg), Netherlands ($39,775. K , 232,276 Kg).
Can I grow vanilla at home?
The best way to bring vanilla home is to buy a potted plant or cutting of V. Large cuttings (24 to 36 inches) can root and flower in just 2 to 3 years. Smaller cuttings will take longer, likely 3 to 4 years. The vanilla plant can reach a height of 10–15 m (33–49 ft) in height and has an economic lifespan of approximately 10 years.Vanilla blooms are small and appear in clusters only once a year. Mature plants are usually thirty feet or longer before they will reach flowering size.Vanilla grows best in warm temperatures, preferably in the 70’s to 90’s. Cooler temperatures will slow down the growth. Keep temperatures above 60˙F for the most part.
How to tell if vanilla is pure?
Pure vanilla extract is usually a dark liquid regardless of the extraction process. This is mostly because of the colour of the bean and seeds. Pure vanilla extract contains vanilla bean seeds along with alcohol or invert sugar. What exactly are vanilla bean seeds or specks? They are just what they sound like, tiny black seeds that line the inside of a vanilla bean. When flavor houses extract vanilla beans to make vanilla extract, the goal is to extract all possible flavor from the bean, including its seeds.
Why is real vanilla so expensive?
Vanilla beans come from a tropical orchid native to Mexico; today, Madagascar and Indonesia are the largest producers. Vanilla is expensive because growing and harvesting it is so labor-intensive, explains Patricia Rain, author of Vanilla: The Cultural History of the World’s Favorite Flower and owner of The Vanilla. This plant grows in the tropical forests of Mexico and Central and northern South America but is now rare in the wild due to habitat reduction and overexploitation. Vanilla is the second most expensive spice after saffron because of the intensive labour required to grow its pods.Vanilla is the only edible fruit of the orchid family, the largest family of flowering plants in the world. There are over 150 varieties of vanilla plants.This is the plant that Vanilla extract comes from. Vanilla is the second most expensive spice in the world, saffron being the most expensive. This is a native vine from Mexico and is grown commercially in Central and South America and Madagascar.