Vanilla aroma accompanies us all our lives: from childhood we remember the smell of delicious vanilla buns, our youth is associated with the spirits of a girlfriend or our own favorite aroma. Warmth and comfort from each of these memories! Not so long ago, scientists have established that the aroma that vanilla flowers exude, as well as the stronger smells obtained from the fruits of this plant, have a calming and soothing effect on the human nervous system. When humanity learned about this plant, where does this flower grow and what conditions does it need? In this article we will try to talk about such a flower as a vanilla orchid, the photo of which is presented below, as well as answer all the questions posed.
A bit of history
The homeland of vanilla is Central America, where it was highly appreciated by the locals - the Aztecs, who used it to improve the taste of the sacred drink - the prototype of modern chocolate.
The first European to taste this spice was Christopher Columbus, who was treated by a local ruler with a chocolate drink. It was Columbus who brought vanilla to Europe, where its delicate taste was first appreciated in countries such as Spain, Austria and Italy. The Spaniards, having fallen in love with the vanilla aroma and the profit received from the sale of the pods, took most of the tribute from the Mexican tribes precisely with the fruits that formed after the vanilla flower faded. For more than three centuries, the Spanish kingdom has been the sole importer and seller of vanilla in the Old World. Due to the high cost and complexity of delivery, other countries got acquainted with this spice a little later. So, at the beginning of the XVII century, vanilla began to be added to pastries, as well as aromatized with it, smoking mixes for pipes and alcoholic beverages.
Botanical features
Vanilla, more precisely - vanilla orchid - the only representative of the orchid family (Orchidaceae), bearing fruits that are actively used by humans. There are approximately 100 subspecies of this plant growing in tropical regions of both earth’s hemispheres. To produce vanilla, only three species are grown on an industrial scale:
- planifolia;
- pompona;
- tahitensis.
We will tell you more about each of them later.
All vanilla - climbing creepers, which in natural conditions can reach 40 meters. In nature, they parasitize on cocoa trees, and on the plantations they establish special supports or plant dracaena trees next to them that do not suffer from such a neighborhood. Vanilla creepers grow quite quickly, the growth per month can reach up to a meter. The stem of the vanilla is grassy, forming in the process of growth many aerial roots that help the plant cling and stay on the trees. The leaves of these orchids are fleshy, oval-lanceolate.
Large and very pleasant- smelling vanilla flowers , photos of which can be seen below, are collected in brushes and painted in yellowish-green colors. Perianth consists of six petals, one of which is folded into a tube and forms a “lip”, in which a pestle and a single stamen are hidden.
Such a
structure of the flower makes it difficult to pollinate, which can only be done by local bees of the same species and hummingbirds.
Vanilla blooms in the third year of its life, with each flower living only one day. The ovaries that form pollinated vanilla flowers develop for a very long time: from 7 to 9 months - and form a narrow elongated cylindrical fruit 10-30 cm long. Inside the brown single-chamber box there are many brown-black small seeds. These plants bear fruit for a long time, from 20 to 50 years.
Kinds
Translated from Latin into Russian, Vanilla means "Pod", and today three species of this plant are grown to obtain a favorite spice. It should be noted that the vanilla flowers that were discovered in Central America served as the progenitors of all the species used today.
Vanilla planifolia
So, the most common and possessing the strongest and sweetest aroma of Vanilla planifolia grows in Central America, Indonesia, the Caribbean and Madagascar. Flowers of this species, with an intense and delicate aroma, are pollinated artificially. The fruits of this plant, harvested by hand, are widely used in cooking and cosmetology.
Vanilla pompom
Less common and fragrant is the so-called Antillean vanilla - Vanilla pompona, grown in Mexico and Panama, as well as other countries of Central America. This type is used in most cases as extracts in the food industry.
Tahitian Vanilla
Another type of orchid, the fruits of which are used in cooking, is obtained by crossing Vanilla planifolia and pompona Tahitian vanilla - Vanilla tahitensis JW Moore. This plant is grown on the islands of French Polynesia, as well as in some other southern areas of the Pacific Ocean. Pods of this species contain less vanilla, but more than another aromatic component - heliotropin. Thanks to him, Vanilla tahitensis has a softer and more delicate aroma with a predominance of fruit and floral notes. In addition to culinary applications, beautiful and fragrant flowers of vanilla tahitensis are grown to flavor and decorate different territories.
Where does she grow?
If vanilla was originally grown only in some regions of Central America, today it is grown in many countries of the tropical zone. For normal growth and development, this plant needs a humid and hot climate. At the same time, plants need a temperature not higher than +30 0 and not lower than +15 0 and a humidity of about 80% is desirable. All types of vanilla are quite demanding on the soil: it must be loose and enriched with organic substances, it must pass air and water well.
Today, vanilla is cultivated in many countries located in regions from 10 to 20 degrees from the equator: in Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay, the United States, West Africa and the islands of French Polynesia.