The practice of adding substances such as caramel, sugar and vanilla to food has been around for centuries. Vanilla beans are the entire dried out fruit of the orchid. Vanilla forms the seed pods of the vanilla orchid and these are normally cut or chopped into small pieces and added to food as flavouring. These are also used to make vanilla ice cream.
The dark-roasted beans are known by the trade namevanilla beansand are actually the whole dried fruit of the orchid. They have been cultivated around the Mediterranean for centuries. They were first taken to England in the middle ages and these were then reputed to have helped produce peppermint in sodaifiers. Today however they have lost most of their potency and are actually used a good deal less as a flavouring and more as a puree to make tea.
The vanilla plant is normally grown in tropical climates and these tend to be the most popular for flavouring food and for making flavored ice creams. The pods are gathered while they are still green and unripe. They are then boiled in a kettle that has been covered with a mixture of sand and gravel. The coagulated matter is then removed and the kettle may now be washed. The nutrients are then absorbed into a container and allowed to dry.
The beans are then left in the sun for a month or two after the process is complete to make vanilla ice cream. The first attempts to freeze vanilla were with designs on it such as that produced by Jamie Oliver and contain pure vanilla extract. Since then, a lot of other flavours have been produced from pure vanilla extract.
The actual freezing process is a little different from the usual methods of extracting vanilla beans. In the first method the beans are actually split lengthwise into two pieces and then they are steamed. The water is then had internally and the two pieces are returned to the jar. The two pieces are then strained to remove the sand and gravel which had been mixed with the bean. The next process involves pumping water into the jar, loading it with calibrated ground vanilla and then putting the whole jar in a freezer for a length of time. When it has been determined that the vanilla has sealed, the jar is then removed from the freezer and allowed to cool. The heart-shaped bean is then strained to remove the dandruff and placed in a jar. The following process is repeated twice. This is known as the saponification process and it allows the bean to turn to mush.
The final step in vanilla production involves chopping the bean into little pieces. These are then ground into a mash with a small portion of fructose and other flavourings and sold to the public. The stigma of the vanilla plant is removed by beating the pulp with a small hammer. The final step is to freeze the mash to protect it from insects. Vanilla only becomes tantalized taste when it has been frozen.
As well as being an ingredient in food, vanilla has also been used for medicinal purposes in some tribes. The staff of ancient Egyptian pharaohs were said to use vanilla for various purposes. In ancient China, vanilla was considered to be a aphrodisiac. It was also used to produce vanilla ice cream.
Vanilla orchids grow on short-stalked succulent plants. The individual tiers of the tall plants are called splettes. They are usually very tall and vegetative, costing more than 100 dollars for a harvest. The plants require protection from both foliar and piperine.
The vanilla plant is native to the southern coast of Central America. Native Americans harvested vanilla poes growing on palm trees. The flavor comes from the edible, chlorophyll-containing sap. A vanilla plant is composed of ten genus or including species. They are: Garcinia (the vanilla orchid), Parquetinea (the dog-eared orchid), Synsepalum (feday), Lamiaria (lazy eye), Leuconostoma (leaf-eye), and Polyspermae (shrub.)
One small to medium sized tree is typically grown each year. The trunks are heavy and carry about 60% of the weight of the tree. The tree risks losing all its leaves and growing short on each subsequent year. Growers must “gauge” the soil with a fiber-rich organic matter or else the tree risk developingroot rot.
The Environmental Interactions of Vanilla
Most vanilla is grown in a relatively small portion of vanilla growing regions throughout the world. For example, the especially long growing seasons in the Gulf of Mexico and particularly in Ecuador provide a unique environment for growing particularly high quality vanilla beans. The finding of new land to grow beans is a rare opportunity, and vanilla growing teams are scrambled to find enough space to production these beans in any part of the world where it is not possible to grow them.
About The Author
Helena Eater
How much does the quality of food really matter? If you eat food that tastes good, your life will be better. If you eat food that tastes bad, your life will be worse. The difference between good and evil is partly subjective: what tastes good to me might taste bad to you. The difference is also partly objective: what restaurants I think serve good food might serve lousy food to you. But if we stick to objective measures — measures such as how much weight people gain or lose — we can cut through some of the subjectivity.
