Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine January 2017

JANUARY 2017 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 44
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The Best Stories from Caribbean Compass
LOOK OUT FOR…
VANILLA:
From Here,
to There,
and Back Again
by Lynn Kaak
As you travel through the Caribbean, every month there’s something special
to look out for.
Vanilla is the most popular flavouring in the world — yes, it even surpasses chocolate!
It is also the second most expensive flavouring or spice, next to saffron. When you
understand how it is propagated and produced, its cost makes a great deal of sense.
It wasn’t until the Spanish visited the lands bordering the Gulf of Mexico that
Europeans discovered vanilla. However, the Totonac people, who inhabited what is
now Veracruz in Mexico, knew about it long before that, and used it as an offering
to the Aztecs when they were conquered by them. The Aztecs used it to flavour their
chocolate. They knew the good stuff when they tasted it!
Vanilla, then, is a native of Mexico and Central America. The name “vanilla” is a
translation of the Spanish for “little pod”. Whether that is a better name than “black
flower”, as the Aztecs referred to it, is up for deliberation.
Vanilla planiforia and V. pompona are the two species of vanilla that you are most
likely to see growing in the Caribbean. They both stem from the same species that
originated in Mexico and were transplanted around the tropical regions of the world,
particularly by the French. There was a problem with trying to propagate vanilla
around the globe, though: it was only fertilized by small bees native to the region of
the plant’s origin. It was eventually discovered that the flowers could be fertilized by
hand, and a young slave from Reunion Island discovered that by using a slip of
bamboo and a thumb, the flowers were fairly easily fertilized without having to rely
on the bees. Even in the wild, the chance of fertilization is only about one percent,
so this made a huge difference in the production rates. This discovery also killed
Mexico’s monopoly on production.
The Bourbon variety (part of V. planifolia) was developed in Reunion and
Madagascar, and eventually found its way back to the Caribbean, via the French.
This has the highest yield, which made it the best bet for farmers.
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The plant is a form of orchid, and is the only orchid with a fruit that is edible to
humans. It likes rich soil, and lots of water, but it doesn‘t like to live in the mud, so
good drainage is a necessity. As a vine, it requires some form of support, and is often
found growing on a “tutor” tree. The tree also provides needed shade, as while the
orchid is very much a tropical plant, it isn’t a sun worshipper. It isn’t uncommon to
see vanilla plants interspersed among other commercially useful trees and plants
throughout the old estate grounds one might hike through in the Caribbean.
Commercially active plantations might use a shade material providing 50 percent
shade for the precious plants.
Most vanilla plants are cultivated by cuttings. After about three years, they are
mature enough to bear fruit, of course after a little “tickling” to fertilize the flower.
The short-lived flowers, which must be worked with within a 12-hour window if they
are to be used, are yellow, and are approximately five centimetres in diameter, and
about two to three centimetres in length. They will fall off within a day of flowering.
The flowers, with assistance, can pollinate themselves, but otherwise, a small membrane
prevents self-pollination when humans aren’t involved.
The pods (they are not actually beans) take five to six months to develop and
mature. Depending on the variety, they may develop into a red or black colour when
they are ready for harvest, with the pickers looking for the pod to start to split at the
end. They all turn the familiar black quite quickly after picking. Pods generally grow
to about 15 centimetres in length. The longer the pod, the higher the quality and the
higher the value. The pods must be checked daily to see when they are ready for
harvest, which adds to the labour-intensive nature of this crop. And of course, it
must be picked by hand.
Artificial vanilla flavouring may come from the castor sacs of mature beavers, or
as a by-product of wood production. Ain’t nuthin’ like the real thing, baby!
There is certainly nothing “plain” about vanilla.