Vanilla History

For centuries, vanilla has been one of the most familiar flavors, fundamental to western cuisine. Commonly used to flavor desserts, beverages, milk products, and coffee, vanilla has become one of the most loved flavors of the western palate.

It is believed, the Totonaca people of Mexico were the first cultivators of vanilla, during Mesoamerican times. They believed that the Gods had bestowed this exotic fruit upon them. Vanilla continues to be cultivated in the eastern portions of tropical Mexico.

In the 14th century, the Spanish conquistadors

under Cortez, watched Montezuma, Emperor of

the Aztecs, pulverize vanilla beans, combine

them with chocolate and serve it as a drink in

golden goblets to his most honored guests.

The Spanish caught on quickly and by the middle

of the 15th century, were importing it to Europe

to use as a flavor in the manufacture of chocolate.

As European explorers and their attendant

botanical recorders and collectors combed the

forests of Central and South America, vanilla

became more common in Europe. Europeans

followed the example of the tribes in the New

World and used vanilla in the production of

medicine, as a nerve stimulant and as an aphrodisiac.

By the early 1800's vanilla plants were growing

in botanical collections in Germany and France.

Horticulturists were experimenting with conditions

for its growth. From Europe it was transported

to Reunion, Mauritius and the Malagasy Republic.

In the new tropical colonies, slave labor discovered

that hand pollination of the flowers was necessary

to produce vanilla beans.

From these points, vanilla plants were taken to Indonesia, the Seychelles, and the Comoros Islands. At approximately the same time, vanilla was introduced as a crop in Martinique and Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.