![]() On top of all this, vanilla beans are only grown in a few places around the world. ![]() Once the beans finally do grow and are picked, they need hourly attention (sun drying and rolling) for four months. It wasn’t until the 1800s that a kid figured out how to pollinate the flowers by hand, and since then, most vanilla in the world has been pollinated this way!įarmers must catch the flower blossoming (it’s open for about 1 day) and pollinate it before it closes. Vanilla originally comes from Mexico, where hummingbirds and bees have adapted to be able to penetrate and pollinate its flower.īut when Europeans first brought vanilla plants back home with them, and without the help of the native birds and bees, they couldn’t figure out how to pollinate the flowers to grow beans. Vanilla is a finicky, labor-intensive plant, making it the second most expensive spice (next to saffron). Though there are hundreds of varieties of the vanilla orchid, the vanilla that we know and love comes from just one variety – Vanilla planifolia. Vanilla is actually the fruit of an orchid plant that grows as a long, dark brown bean pod. ![]() Vanilla is one of those ingredients that transforms any dish into decadent deliciousness with a simple flick of its magical pixie dust. But what is vanilla? And where does it come from? Answering it all here! What is vanilla? Vanilla is one of those ingredients that transforms any dish into decadent deliciousness.
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