Editing Vanilla (section)

==History==
[[File:Vanilla florentine codex.jpg|upright=1.81|thumb| Drawing of the ''Vanilla'' plant from the ''[[Florentine Codex]]'' (c. 1580) and description of its use and properties written in the [[Nahuatl]] language]]

''Vanilla planifolia'' traditionally grew wild around the [[Gulf of Mexico]] from [[Tampico]] around to the northeast tip of South America, and from [[Colima]] to [[Ecuador]] on the Pacific side, as well as throughout the Caribbean. The [[Totonac]] people, who live along the eastern coast of Mexico in the present-day state of [[Veracruz]], were among the first people to domesticate vanilla, cultivated on farms since at least 1185. The Totonac used vanilla as a fragrance in temples and as a good-luck charm in amulets, as well as flavoring for food and beverages. The cultivation of vanilla was a low-profile affair, as few people from outside these regions knew of it.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Although the Totonacs are the most famously associated with human use of vanilla, it is speculated that the [[Olmecs]], who also lived in the regions of wild vanilla growth thousands of years earlier, were one of the first people to use wild vanilla in cuisine.<ref>{{cite book |author1-last=Rain |author1-first=Patricia |author2-last=Lubinsky |author2-first=Pesach |editor1-last=Odoux |editor1-first=Eric |editor2-last=Grisoni |editor2-first=Michel |chapter=Vanilla Use in Colonial Mexico and Traditional Totonac Vanilla Farming |date=2011 |title=Vanilla |chapter-url=http://www.crcnetbase.com/isbn/9781420083385 |location=USA |publisher=[[CRC Press]] |page=252 |isbn=978-1-4200-8337-8}}{{dead link|date=November 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Vanilla History |url=https://rodellekitchen.com/resources/learning/vanilla-history/ |access-date=2022-06-14 |website=Rodelle Kitchen |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2018-12-04 |title=The Vanilla Bean Orchid |url=https://www.gulleygreenhouse.com/vanilla-bean-orchid/ |access-date=2022-06-14 |website=Gulley Greenhouse |language=en-US |last1=Gulley |first1=Beth }}{{Dead link|date=March 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rain |first=Patricia |date=February 26, 2009 |title=History of Vanilla |url=https://vanillaqueen.com/facts-about-vanilla/}}</ref>

Aztecs from the central highlands of Mexico invaded the Totonacs in 1427, developed a taste for the vanilla pods, and began using vanilla to flavor their foods and drinks, often mixing it with cocoa in a drink called "''xocolatl''" that later inspired modern [[hot chocolate]]. The fruit was named ''tlilxochitl'', wrongly interpreted as "black flower" instead of the more probable "black pod"<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Correll |first=Donovan S. |date=1953 |title=Vanilla: Its Botany, History, Cultivation and Economic Import |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4287786 |journal=Economic Botany |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=291–358 |doi=10.1007/BF02930810 |jstor=4287786 |bibcode=1953EcBot...7..291C |s2cid=34061570 |issn=0013-0001}}</ref> because the matured fruit shrivels and turns a dark color shortly after being picked. For the Aztecs, much like earlier Mesoamerican peoples before them, it is probable that vanilla was used to tame the otherwise bitter taste of [[Cocoa bean|cacao]], as [[sugarcane]] was not harvested in these regions at the time and there were no other sweeteners available.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

[[Hernán Cortés]] is credited with introducing both vanilla and [[chocolate]] to Europe in the 1520s.<ref name="nashville">{{cite web |url=http://www.herbsocietynashville.org/gardening.htm |title=The Life of Spice |author=The Herb Society of Nashville |publisher=The Herb Society of Nashville |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110920205115/http://www.herbsocietynashville.org/gardening.htm |archive-date=20 September 2011 |url-status=dead |quote=Following Montezuma’s capture, one of Cortés' officers saw him drinking "chocolatl" (made of powdered cocoa beans and ground corn flavored with ground vanilla pods and honey). The Spanish tried this drink themselves and were so impressed by this new taste sensation that they took samples back to Spain.' and 'Actually it was vanilla rather than the chocolate that made a bigger hit and by 1700 the use of vanilla was spread over all of Europe. Mexico became the leading producer of vanilla for three centuries. – Excerpted from 'Spices of the World Cookbook' by McCormick and 'The Book of Spices' by Frederic Rosengarten, Jr}}</ref> In Europe, vanilla was seen mostly as an additive to chocolate until the early 17th century when [[Hugh Morgan (apothecary)|Hugh Morgan]], a creative apothecary in the employ of Queen Elizabeth I, created chocolate-free, vanilla-flavored "sweetmeats". By the 18th century, the French were using vanilla to flavor [[ice cream]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-10-23 |title=The History of Vanilla |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/plain-vanilla |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227161025/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/plain-vanilla |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 February 2021 |author=Rebecca Rupp|access-date=2022-06-14 |publisher=National Geographic |language=en}}</ref>

Until the mid-19th century, Mexico was the chief producer of vanilla.<ref>{{cite book |author1-last=Rain |author1-first=Patricia |author2-last=Lubinsky |author2-first=Pesach |editor1-last=Odoux |editor1-first=Eric |editor2-last=Grisoni |editor2-first=Michel |chapter=Vanilla Production in Mexico |date=2011 |title=Vanilla |chapter-url=http://www.crcnetbase.com/isbn/9781420083385 |location=USA |publisher=[[CRC Press]] |page=336 |isbn=978-1-4200-8337-8}}</ref> One of Mexico's top producing regions was Veracruz, especially in the town of Papantla. By 1889, Mexican exports of vanilla exceeded 70,000 kilograms making the region one of the world leaders in vanilla production at the time.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kouri |first=Emilio |title=A Pueblo Divided: Business, Property, and Community in Papantla, Mexico |publisher=Stanford University Press |date=2004 |page=188 |isbn=978-0-8047-5848-2}}</ref> While vanilla trade was surging throughout Papantla, many farmers who owned land on which this commodity was growing would soon be subject to political shifts that led to those farmers having to pay rent. Protests of these shifts in policy led many to fight and die against the four tier hierarchy made up of Totonac caciques, ranchero clans, a hefty class of landowning labradores, and a bulging stratum of tenants, jornaleros, and ranch hands.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kouri |first=Emilio |title=A Pueblo Divided: Business, Property, and Community in Papantla, Mexico |publisher=Stanford University Press |date=2004 |page=280 |isbn=978-0-8047-5848-2}}</ref>  In 1819, French entrepreneurs shipped vanilla fruits to the islands of [[Réunion]] and [[Mauritius]] in hopes of producing vanilla there. After 1841, when [[Edmond Albius]] discovered how to pollinate the flowers quickly by hand, the pods began to thrive. Soon, the tropical orchids were sent from Réunion to the [[Comoros Islands]], [[Seychelles]], and [[Madagascar]], along with instructions for pollinating them. By 1898, Madagascar, Réunion, and the Comoros Islands produced 200 metric tons of vanilla beans, about 80% of world production in that year. According to the United Nations [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] 2019 data, Madagascar, followed by Indonesia, were the largest producers of vanilla in 2018.<ref name=FAOSTAT>{{cite web |title=Crops, Vanilla |work=FAO Global Statistical Yearbook | date=2019 | url=http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC |access-date=13 April 2020 }}</ref>
[[File:Vanilla fragrans 3.jpg|thumb|Vanilla cultivation]]

After a [[tropical cyclone]] ravaged key croplands, the market price of vanilla rose sharply in the late 1970s and remained high through the early 1980s despite the introduction of Indonesian vanilla. In the mid-1980s, the [[cartel]] that had controlled vanilla prices and distribution since its creation in 1930 disbanded.<ref name="Bleu-2010">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Wf-NFH5ZuoC&pg=PA213|title=Le Cordon Bleu Cuisine Foundations|first=The Chefs of Le Cordon|last=Bleu|date=21 April 2010|publisher=Cengage Learning|via=Google Books|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428023238/https://books.google.com/books?id=8Wf-NFH5ZuoC&pg=PA213|archive-date=28 April 2016|isbn=9781435481374}}</ref> Prices dropped 70% over the next few years, to nearly US$20 per kilogram; prices rose sharply again after [[Cyclone Hudah|tropical cyclone Hudah]] struck Madagascar in April 2000.<ref name="Zhu-2018">{{Cite journal|title=Hot money, cold beer: Navigating the vanilla and rosewood export economies in northeastern Madagascar|first=Annah|last=Zhu|date=21 November 2018|journal=American Ethnologist|volume=45|issue=2|pages=253–267|doi=10.1111/amet.12636|doi-access=free}}</ref> The cyclone, political instability, and poor weather in the third year drove vanilla prices to US$500/kg in 2004, bringing new countries into the vanilla industry. A good crop, coupled with decreased demand caused by the production of imitation vanilla, pushed the market price down to the $40/kg range in the middle of 2005. By 2010, prices were down to $20/kg.  [[Cyclone Enawo]] caused a similar spike to $500/kg in 2017.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Forani|first1=Jonathan|title=Eager bakers may face a cake crisis as vanilla supply evaporates|url=https://www.thestar.com/life/2017/09/20/world-cake-crisis-as-vanilla-supply-evaporates.html|access-date=21 September 2017|work=[[Toronto Star]]|date=20 September 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921000857/https://www.thestar.com/life/2017/09/20/world-cake-crisis-as-vanilla-supply-evaporates.html|archive-date=21 September 2017}}</ref>

An estimated 95% of "vanilla" products are artificially flavored with [[vanillin]] derived from [[lignin]] instead of vanilla fruits.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vanillaexchange.com/RVCA_Handout.htm |title=Rainforest Vanilla Conservation Association |access-date= 16 June 2011 |publisher= RVCA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090624003638/http://vanillaexchange.com/RVCA_Handout.htm |archive-date= 24 June 2009 }}</ref>

Although vanilla was domesticated in [[Mesoamerica]] and subsequently spread to the [[Old World]], the use of an unidentified, Old World-endemic ''[[Vanilla (genus)|Vanilla]]'' species is attested in [[Canaan]]/[[History of ancient Israel and Judah|Israel]] during the Middle Bronze Age and later.<ref>{{Cite journal | url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352409X18307557 | title=First evidence for vanillin in the old world: Its use as mortuary offering in Middle Bronze Canaan | journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports | date=June 2019 | last1 = Linares | first1 = V. | last2 = Adams | first2 = M.&nbsp;J. | last3 = Cradic | first3 = M.&nbsp;S. | last4 = Finkelstein | first4 = I. | last5 = Lipschits | first5 = O. | last6 = Martin | first6 = M.&nbsp;A.&nbsp;S.| last7 = Neumann | first7 = R. | last8 = Stockhammer | first8 = P.&nbsp;W. | last9 = Gadot | first9 = Y.| volume=25 | pages=77–84 | doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.03.034 | bibcode=2019JArSR..25...77L | s2cid=181608839 }}</ref><ref name="Amir-2022">{{Cite journal | title=Amir A, Finkelstein I, Shalev Y, Uziel J, Chalaf O, Freud L, et al. (2022) Residue analysis evidence for wine enriched with vanilla consumed in Jerusalem on the eve of the Babylonian destruction in 586 BCE. PLoS ONE 17(3)| year=2022| doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0266085| pmid=35349581| doi-access=free| last1=Amir| first1=A.| last2=Finkelstein| first2=I.| last3=Shalev| first3=Y.| last4=Uziel| first4=J.| last5=Chalaf| first5=O.| last6=Freud| first6=L.| last7=Neumann| first7=R.| last8=Gadot| first8=Y.| journal=PLOS ONE| volume=17| issue=3| pages=e0266085| pmc=8963535}}</ref> Traces of vanillin were found in wine jars in [[Jerusalem]], which were used by the [[Kingdom of Judah|Judahite]] elite before [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)|the city was destroyed]] in 586 BCE.<ref name="Amir-2022" />