Vanilla Voyage

This culinary adventure begins in the age of the Conquistador, in Castilian Spain. The parents of young Hernándo Cortés Pizarro sent their only son to study law, but he longed for a less cerebral life. Failing law school, he returned home, and became involved with a local young lady. His desire for her was matched only by his curiosity about the mysterious “New World” west of the Atlantic’s watery horizon.
His desire for her would not deter Hernan’s ambition. He signed onto an expedition to explore this New World. Before sailing west, he climbed the wall to the young lady’s apartment, to bid her adieu.
The wall collapsed, a heap of rubble upon the would-be Romeo, forcing a different type of bed rest than the young man imagined. It wasn’t until 1504 that Cortés sailed from Spain to meet his destiny as the bold explorer, conqueror and governor of New Spain, now known as Mexico.
When Cortés returned to Spain, be brought riches from the new territory. Gold. Silver. New flavors- chocolate and vanilla. The Aztec Emperor Montezuma introduced the conquistadors to it when serving his most honored guests with a sweetened chocolate beverage, laced with pulverized ripened fruits of the vanilla orchid. This is a brief history of the cultivation of vanilla.

Vanilla quickly captured the hearts of Europeans. Not just as a flavoring for chocolate. Queen Elizabeth was besotted with vanilla custard. Its reputation as an aromatic perfume with medicinal and aphrodisiac value spread. As interest in the new commodity grew, the desire to expand where it could be cultivated became an obsession of traders.

Not all orchids bare fruit. While orchids are the single largest plant group, numbering in excess of 23,000 varieties, barely 110 of these are capable of forming fruit.

Of these, only the vining orchid V. planifolia produces green bean shaped fruits laden with the signature scent.

There is but the briefest opportunity for insects to pollinate this yellowish green Cattleya-like orchid or the flower simply dies without baring fruit. Despite the best attempts by prestigious horticulturalists to produce crops away from its native Mexican rain forest, insects in prospective groves were just not willing to do their part in pollination. The farmers pressed forward, but their alternative methods to coax a vanilla crop by hand proved clumsy, unreliable and unprofitable.

Then, east of Madagascar, on the French Island of Réunion, a twelve year old orphaned slave, Edmond Albius, changed the course of history. According to Wikipedia, Albius developed this technique to manually manipulate a fruit into being.
“In 1841, Albius discovered how to quickly pollinate the vanilla orchid with a thin stick or blade of grass and a simple thumb gesture. With the stick or grass blade, field hands lift the rostellum, the flap that separates the male anther from the female stigma, and then, with their thumbs, smear the sticky pollen from the anther over the stigma.”
Now, the rare vanilla orchid is grown in many regions worldwide in a band which extends 20 degrees north and south of the Equator’s girth.
There is a complex richness in real vanilla. Imitation vanilla only contains one aromatic, vanillin, synthesized from guaiacol, a coal tar derivative; or produced from lignin, a byproduct of the paper industry. By contrast, real vanilla is composed of 250 harmonious organic components. The aromatic scent of real vanilla is complex- calming, comforting to the nose- uplifting other ingredients to the taste. It elongates and elevates the pleasure of the moment.
To choose artificial vanilla flavoring over real vanilla is to choose to play a single ivory key when the whole keyboard is available.
Because aroma is such an important component of enjoyable food, I insist that only the finest vanilla be used in my kitchen. After years of experimentation with various brands, I am pleased to stock my cabinet with Rodelle Gourmet Vanilla products.

Just as the right wine elevates the dining experience, so does Rodelle Vanilla. There are things I will compromise on when cooking. But not with vanilla. It must be real. And for gastronomic pleasure, there is no better vanilla on the market.

What are some of your favorite uses for vanilla? Please share.

Credits and Links of Interest

Painting of the Spanish Explorer is by unknown artist in 16th Century.

Group orchid shot from my personal collection.

Image of V plantifolia courtesy of National Park Service, Everglades National Park

Vining orchid photograph copyrite by David.Monniaux

The image of Edmond Albius firstpublished in Album de l'Ile de la Réunion (volume III - 1863)
Lithography : Antoine Roussin / Publisher : Antoine Roussin

To learn more about the line of Rodelle Vanilla products, please visit their site at http://www.rodellevanilla.com/index.html

Cost Plus World Market is now the exclusive purveyor of Rodelle's 'Vanillas of the World'- a delightful way to taste the individuality of different climates and soil.