Vanilla

Native to Central America the first recorded use of vanilla was by the Aztecs (in drink made with cacao beans is called Cacahuatl). The Spanish explorer Cortez is credited with introducing vanilla (and chocolate) to Spain in the 1520s. The demand for vanilla spread throughout Europe.

Plants grown in any country other than Mexico would only flower. It was not until the 1840s when a method was discovered to hand pollinate the flowers, that countries other than Mexico could grow vanilla pods. Up until then it was only the bees of the Melipona genus, native to Mexico that pollinated the vanilla flowers. Hand pollinating is still used today for all commercial production of vanilla –from Mexico, Tahiti, Madagascar, Réunion, Indonesia and Tonga.

In some cultures, vanilla was a sacred medicinal herb, used to heal and soothe. Dr. John King wrote in the American Dispensatory of 1859, “vanilla is an aromatic stimulant useful in infusions for treating hysteria, rheumatism and low forms of fever. It is said to exhilarate the brain, increase muscular energy and stimulate sexual propensities.”