Vanilla

Vanilla or natural Vanilla is a spice obtained from the pod of a herbaceous vine belonging to the Orchidaceae family and is the most famous aroma in the world. The ripe fruit is completely odourless, it acquires its unmistakable and precious scent by remaining on the plant and undergoing a fermentation process. This precious fruit owes its unmistakable scent to the odorant principle called vanillin, which varies from plant to plant depending on its origin.
It is grown mainly in humid tropical areas, such as in the Antilles, Reunion, Indonesia and Madagascar. Available in nurseries specializing in orchids, we can grow it in pots, like the most common orchids.
The commercial name vanilla is attributed to pods that are at least 15 centimeters long.

Vanilla has a very sweet and aromatic flavour, fresh and exotic, more intense in the Bourbon variety and rather delicate in the Tahitian variety. The use of vanilla in the kitchen dates back to the dawn of time, when the Aztecs combined it with cocoa to obtain a sweet drink, the ancestor of our vanilla-flavoured chocolate, it is mainly used in confectionery preparations, to flavor sugar, chocolate, milk and liqueurs and vanilla cream is one of the main ingredients of many cakes and desserts.

According to legend, the Aztec emperor Montezuma offered Hernando Cortés some vanilla-scented chocolate which the Spanish conqueror brought back to his homeland, making the entire Old Continent discover its flavour.