Origins

First domesticated by Totonacs, and later Aztecs in Mesoamerica since at least 1185, a species of vanilla orchid called Vanilla planifolia, was introduced to Europe by a Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés in 1528.

In 1602, vanilla was presented to Queen Elizabeth I, a legendary sweet tooth. Needless to say, when a reigning emperoress falls deeply in love with a spice of such magnifiscent aroma and taste, the nobles shall follow. And so did the rest of Europe. By the late 18th century, the popularity of vanilla had reached the United States.

During that time, the spice was astronomically expensive, as the only place in the world it would bloom was Mexico. The first cuttings brought over to Europe would grow and flower, but no pods sprouted, leaving cultivators scratching their heads. It was Belgian botanist Charles Morren who realised that a particular stingless Mexican honey bee, the Melipona, was responsible for pollinating vanilla flowers.

In 1819, French colonists brought vanilla beans to islands of Réunion and nearby Mauritius in hopes of starting the production of vanilla there. Unsuccessfully so, as again, no insect would take over the job of the meliponas in pollinating the plant.

It wasn’t until 1841, when a 12-year-old orphan slave named Edmond, who worked as an apprentice gardener for the botanist Ferréol Bellier-Beaumont de Villentroy, made a game-changing discovery. By the time, the boy was already acquaintant with the basics of botany, including how to fertilise flowers. And so, while studying the vanilla vines on M. Beaumont’s estate in Réunion island, Edmond came up with the idea of lifting a membrane between the male and female parts of the flower with a blade of grass, and then using a simple thumb gesture to gently brush the polen onto the stigma, thus fertilising the plant. Edmond's technique revolutionised commercial cultivation of Vanilla planifolia for good, making it possible to profitably harvest the beans away from its original habitat.

After France outlawed slavery in 1848, he adopted a surname Albius from albus (Latin for “white”) in reference to the colour of vanilla orchid. His legacy lives on to this day. All around the world, even in Mexico, vanilla extensively is pollinated by hand.

Bourbon Vanilla

Depiction of Vanilla Planifolia and Malagasy women,

(25.000 francs, 1998 Dimy Arivo Ariary Madagascar, reverse, deconstructed.)

Bourbon vanilla

At the time Vanilla planifolia was first brought to the island of Réunion, and the method of hand pollination was invented and spread to nearby Madagascar, the island was called Île Bourbon.

The name took after The House of Bourbon, a dynasty, that ruled France and its colonies, including Île Bourbon, from 1589 to 1789 and later from 1815 to 1848. It is for that reason, in 1964 the vanilla cultivated in the islands of Western Indian Ocean - Réunion, Mauritius, Comoros, Mayotte Seychelles and most commonly - Madagascar, was labelled Bourbon. In case you were wondering, this is the only relation of Bourbon vanilla to any kind of alcohol, and by that we mean whiskey. Well, apart from vanilla extract, the most commonly used form of vanilla, produced by innitialy soaking vanilla pods in a solution containing at least 35% of ethanol, to be exact.

Back to the Madagascar. 4th largest island in the world, sometimes referred to as the "8th continent" for its distinctive ecology, Madagascar has become a home to about 80% of the Vanilla planifolia beans currently on the market. High temperatures and humidity of the tropical climate, along with the rich soil and generational farming expertise of the locals, has lead to Madagascar becoming a world’s leading supplier of Bourbon vanilla both by quantity and quality.