Vanilla

By Lee J. Thatcher

 

Warm and delightful vanilla is practically a staple in every cook’s home in the United States today. We use it in our cookies, cakes, and pies and to flavor our hot cocoa. Most likely, so did most cooks in our grandmother’s generation. Prior to the early 1900’s though, vanilla was not heard of in commonly accepted recipes. Today, it seems that each year there are more and more “vanilla” scented or flavored products on the market and it’s no wonder - vanilla has a unique, decadent and sensual aroma that has been prized as a perfume for centuries. It has been credited in helping to ease depression, help with weight loss, and even improving male sexual function; the latter confirmed in a controlled study at the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, by Neurologist Alan Hirsch.

 

The vanilla “bean” is a long, thin pod originally grown only in the coastal regions of Mexico. Vanilla was used and enjoyed by the Aztecs, especially by Montezuma who reportedly drank up to fifty “chocolatl” (chocolatl spelling of chocolate in time period) drinks per day. From Montezuma it came into the hands of the Spanish soldiers in 1502 and was carried back to Spain. Contrary to commonly held belief, though, The Aztecs were not the first to use vanilla, nor was it indigenous to their area. It was actually the coastal peoples called the Totonacs and Proto-Toltecs that discovered and made some version of chocolatl, what we would think of as hot cocoa. Sometimes chili peppers were added, and like today, vanilla flavored the chocolate drink. They also developed cultivation techniques very similar to the ones used today to increase the production of vanilla.

According to Patricia Rain, a.k.a. The Vanilla Queen, and author of The Vanilla Cookbook, the use of vanilla goes back some 1,500 years prior to the explorer Cortez’ arrival and 1,300 years before the Aztecs. Patricia is currently involved with writing a more comprehensive culinary history of vanilla, and hopes her new book will be available by October of 2004. Today, Indonesia and Madagascar supply the majority of the world’s vanilla, and the U.S.A. imports more than any other country.

 

Vanilla beans actually come from a variety of orchid, the Vanilla Orchid. (Vanilla planifolia) The eventual pods take a year to mature. In addition to the long waiting for the harvest, the orchids can only be pollinated for a very short span of time, since the flowers bloom for only one day. Then, when it’s time for processing, the beans must be cured. Vanilla does not release the chemical compound vanillin until the pods are fermented. They are scalded in hot water, and then dried, and “sweated” under blankets in the sun. This process is repeated until the pods are dark. This labor-intensive process combined with scarcity and lack of modern travel, made obtaining this almost mystical seasoning very difficult and extremely costly for the European explorers.

 

Once vanilla arrived in the New World, it became very popular with Queen Elizabeth I. It is said that in the final years of her reign, she refused to eat anything that was not flavored with it. Vanilla was a treat for royalty and the rich. It’s hard to keep such a good thing secret, however, and history tells that the French especially became zealous in their quest to make vanilla more accessible and affordable.

 

Attempts made in late 1800’s to transplant the vanilla orchid and grow it in greenhouses failed despite numerous attempts and varying locations. It was ultimately discovered by a botanist that the missing element was a tiny bee called the Melipona. The plants could not be pollinated without them and therefore would not produce the bean pod. Botanists worked out a code and laborers began to use wooden needles to manually pollinate the plants. The French started cultivating vanilla Orchids on the remote islands of Reunion and Madagascar off the coast of Africa.

 

Meanwhile in the United States, Thomas Jefferson had acquired vanilla when he traveled to Europe. When he returned from his ambassadorship in France in 1789, he was annoyed to find that no one in the States knew anything about vanilla, so he wrote his French attaché requesting that he send him fifty vanilla pods. Recipes later appeared at Monticello, which called for the exotic spice. The Virginia Housewife was the first published cookbook in the States and it featured vanilla as an ingredient used in vanilla ice cream, still America’s favorite flavor. Jefferson enjoyed it as well, and his recipe for vanilla ice cream, can be found at https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/ice-cream.

 

America’s Industrial Revolution and the railroad’s making it possible to move mass amounts of goods across the country changed the country. Still, up until the 1920’s vanilla extract was mainly sold through the local drugstore apothecary.

 

Vanilla has come to us through a rich history, and while affordable to the average consumer, it still ranks only second in cost to saffron, the yellow seasoning used in true Spanish “yellow rice”. (A 1.5-gram jar of Mancha Grade saffron retails for about five dollars.) Despite the cost, Americans love their vanilla. We are the number one importers of the brown bean. During the depression and World War II, vanilla became too costly for most. While the recipes endured, many improvised creations of necessity for “War Cake” or “Victory Cake” came about. Most of these omitted vanilla, but used cloves and cinnamon and/or cardamom as seasoning instead. By the end of the war, vanilla was the standard baked-sweets flavoring and has continued to soar in popularity as we rediscover it’s many properties and uses.

 

Written by: Lee J. Thatcher

Assistant Editor of Grandma’s Kitchen

December 3, 2003

 

Published U.S. Legacies Feb 2004