Vanilla The Special Gift Of Native America

after conquering mexico in 1520, hernan cortes took vanilla to spain. the spanish enjoyed vanilla almost as much as they enjoyed chocolate. they blended it with chocolate, cinnamon, almonds, sugar and milk and drank it as a hot beverage. but it was the french who truly adored vanilla, and they used it to flavor sweets and beverages, to perfume snuff and to put in pomanders. the french obtained cuttings of vanilla from the conservatory in london and took them to their tropical outposts around the world. the vanilla grew beautifully and flowered, but it never produced fruits. no one understood why, and it was rumored that it was the curse of moctezuma�the spanish had taken the vines against the will of the indigenous mexicans. it wasn't until 1841 in reunion (also know as the ile de bourbon) that a young slave boy named edmund albius solved the mystery. orchids are unable to selfpollinate and must be artificially pollinated in order to reproduce. bees and other inspect pollinators do this in the vanilla's native habitat, but even then it's hit-and-miss as the vanilla orchid lives for less than one day. edmund tried pollinating the vanilla orchids in the same way he hand-pollinated other orchids. it worked, and his discovery launched the vanilla industry in the indian ocean, indonesia and tahiti, and greatly expanded vanilla production in mexico. vanilla was taken to madagascar around this time, but it didn't become a cash crop until the french colonized madagascar in the late 1890s. they developed huge plantations using the local malagasy as their workers. ironically, the french, who, by now, used vanilla in savory dishes as well as desserts, never explained that vanilla is used to flavor foods as well as in perfumes. to this day, most of the farmers who grow vanilla in madagascar have no idea how vanilla is used. they have no electricity or running water, and as few malagasy have access to the few big cities in their country. the farmers have no easy way to learn about vanilla's uses.