vanilla

=The vanilla = toc The castilians discovered the vanilla in the early 16th century to conquer America. Nothing suggests that this spice had drawn the attention of the first inland expeditions through Central America, but the decisive discovery of vanilla is related to the arrival of the Spaniards in Tenochtitlan, the current Mexico, and with the meeting, in 1519, Hernán Cortés to the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II, which Sahagún describes their customs, and in particular the use of vanilla flavoring your chocolate.

The history of the vanilla is associated with the chocolate. Its origin is Mexican.  The Aztecs, and before the Mayans, enriched with vanilla a thick drink made  from cocoa. This drink was intended to nobles and warriors, and was known by the name of xocoatl. However, neither the cocoa or vanilla cultivated them themselves because the climate was not righ.

 -where vanilla is cultivated

=**Genetics:** = <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">**Vanilla** is a [|flavoring] derived from [|orchids] of the genus //Vanilla// native to Mexico. Etymologically, //vanilla// derives from the Spanish word "vainilla", //little pod//. Originally cultivated by Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican peoples, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés is credited with introducing both vanilla and chocolate to Europe in the 1520s.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> Attempts to cultivate the vanilla plant outside Mexico and Central America proved futile because of the symbiotic relationship between the tlilxochitl vine that produced the vanilla orchid and the local species of Melipona bee; it was not until 1837 that Belgian botanist Charles François Antoine Morren discovered this fact and pioneered a method of artificially pollinating the plant. The method proved financially unworkable and was not deployed commercially. In 1841, a 12-year-old French-owned slave by the name of Edmond Albius, who lived on Île Bourbon, discovered the plant could be hand pollinated, allowing global cultivation of the plant <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">**Vanilla´s crops** = =<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> = <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">There are currently three major cultivars of vanilla grown globally, all derived from a species originally found in Mesoamerica, including parts of modern day Mexico. The various subspecies are //Vanilla planifolia// (syn. //V. fragrans//), grown on Madagascar, Réunion and other tropical areas along the Indian Ocean; //V. tahitensis//, grown in the South Pacific; and //V. pompona//, found in the West Indies, Central and South America. The majority of the world's vanilla is the //V. planifolia// variety, more commonly known as "Madagascar-Bourbon" vanilla, which is produced in a small region of Madagascar and in Indonesia. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> =<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> = =<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">**Vanilla´s value** = = = <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Vanilla is the second most expensive spice after saffron, due to the extensive labor required to grow the vanilla seed pods. Despite the expense, it is highly valued for its flavor, which author Frederic Rosengarten, Jr. described in //The Book of Spices// as "pure, spicy, and delicate" and its complex floral aroma depicted as a peculiar bouquet. Despite its high cost, vanilla is widely used in both commercial and domestic baking, perfume manufacture and aromatherapy.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> =<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">**History** = =<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> = <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">The first to cultivate vanilla were the [|Totonac] people, who inhabit the Mazatlan Valley on the Gulf Coast of [|Mexico] in the present-day state of [|Veracruz]. According to Totonac mythology, the tropical orchid was born when Princess Xanat, forbidden by her father from marrying a mortal, fled to the forest with her lover. The lovers were captured and beheaded. Where their blood touched the ground, the vine of the tropical orchid grew <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Drawing of Vanilla from the [|Florentine Codex] (ca. 1580) and description of its use and properties written in the [|Nahuatl] language.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">In the fifteenth century, [|Aztecs] invading from the central highlands of Mexico conquered the Totonacs, and soon developed a taste for the vanilla bean. They named the bean //"tlilxochitl"//, or "black flower", after the mature bean, which shrivels and turns black shortly after it is picked. Subjugated by the Aztecs, the Totonacs paid tribute by sending vanilla beans to the Aztec capital, [|Tenochtitlan].

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">Until the mid-19th century, Mexico was the chief producer of vanilla. In 1819, however, [|French] entrepreneurs shipped vanilla beans to the islands of [|Réunion] and [|Mauritius] in hopes of producing vanilla there. After [|Edmond Albius], a 12-year-old slave from Réunion Island, discovered how to pollinate the flowers quickly by hand, the pods began to thrive. Soon the tropical orchids were sent from Réunion Island to the [|Comoros Islands] and Madagascar along with instructions for pollinating them. By 1898, Madagascar, Réunion, and the Comoros Islands produced 200 metric tons of vanilla beans, about 80% of world production.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">Madagascar is now responsible for 97% of the world's vanilla bean production. The market price of vanilla rose dramatically in the late 1970s, after a [|tropical cyclone] ravaged key croplands. Prices remained high through the early 1980s despite the introduction of Indonesian vanilla. In the mid-1980s, the [|cartel] that had controlled vanilla prices and distribution since its creation in 1930 disbanded. Prices dropped 70% over the next few years, to nearly US$20 per kilogram, but would rise sharply again after tropical cyclone Hudah struck Madagascar in April 2000. The cyclone, political instability, and poor weather in the third year drove vanilla prices to an astonishing US$500 per kilogram in 2004, bringing new countries into the vanilla industry. A good crop, coupled with decreased demand caused by the production of imitation vanilla, has pushed the market price down to the $40 per kilo range in the middle of 2005.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">Madagascar (mostly the fertile region of Sava) now accounts for much of the global production of vanilla. Mexico, once the leading producer of natural vanilla with an annual 500 tons, produced only 10 tons of vanilla in 2006. An estimated 95% of "vanilla" products actually contain artificial [|vanillin], produced from [|lignin].

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