Editing Vanilla (section)

==Biology==

===Vanilla orchid===
{{Main|Vanilla planifolia}}
[[File:VanillaExtract.png|thumb|upright=0.6|[[Vanilla extract]] displays its distinctive color.]]
[[File:VanillaFlowerLongitudinalSection-en.png|thumb|upright=1.2|''V. planifolia'' – flower]]

The main species of vanilla cultivated is ''V. planifolia''. Although it is native to Mesoamerica and South America, it is now widely grown throughout the tropics. Indonesia and Madagascar are the world's largest producers. Additional sources include ''V. pompona'' and ''V. tahitiensis'' (grown in [[Niue]] and [[Tahiti]]), although the vanillin content of these species is much less than ''V. planifolia''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/chi-vanilla-types-11jun11,0,5117837.story |title=Types of Vanilla |last=Brockman |first=Terra |work=Chicago Tribune |date=11 June 2008 |access-date=1 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616064118/http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/chi-vanilla-types-11jun11,0,5117837.story |archive-date=16 June 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1007/s12231-008-9014-y |title=Origins and Dispersal of Cultivated Vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia'' Jacks. &#91;Orchidaceae&#93;) |year=2008 |last1=Lubinsky |first1=Pesach |last2=Bory |first2=Séverine |last3=Hernández Hernández |first3=Juan |last4=Kim |first4=Seung-Chul |last5=Gómez-Pompa |first5=Arturo |journal=Economic Botany |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=127–38|s2cid=11744202 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.plantsci.2004.04.007 |title=RAPD genetic diversity in cultivated vanilla: ''Vanilla planifolia'', and relationships with ''V. Tahitensis'' and ''V. Pompona'' |year=2004 |last1=Besse |first1=Pascale |last2=Silva |first2=Denis Da |last3=Bory |first3=Séverine |last4=Grisoni |first4=Michel |last5=Le Bellec |first5=Fabrice |last6=Duval |first6=Marie-France |journal=Plant Science |volume=167 |issue=2 |pages=379–85|bibcode=2004PlnSc.167..379B }}</ref>

Vanilla grows as a vine, climbing up an existing tree (also called a tutor), pole, or other support. It can be grown in a wood (on trees), in a plantation (on trees or poles), or in a "shader", in increasing orders of productivity. Its growth environment is referred to as its ''[[terroir]]'', and includes not only the adjacent plants, but also the climate, geography, and local geology. Left alone, it will grow as high as possible on the support, with few flowers. Every year, growers fold the higher parts of the plant downward so the plant stays at heights accessible by a standing human. This also greatly stimulates flowering.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

The distinctively flavored compounds are found in the fruit, which results from the [[pollination]] of the flower. These seed pods are roughly {{convert|1/3|in|mm|adj=pre|of an|spell=in}} by {{convert|6|in|mm|spell=in}}, and brownish red to black when ripe. Inside of these pods is an oily liquid full of tiny seeds.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Diderot|first1=Denis|title=Vanilla|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=did;cc=did;rgn=main;view=text;idno=did2222.0000.830|journal=Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert – Collaborative Translation Project|access-date=1 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921231225/http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=did;cc=did;rgn=main;view=text;idno=did2222.0000.830|archive-date=21 September 2015|date=September 2007}}</ref> One flower produces one fruit. ''V. planifolia'' flowers are [[hermaphroditic]]: they carry both male ([[anther]]) and female ([[pistil|stigma]]) organs. However, [[self-pollination]] is blocked by a membrane which separates those organs.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Despite various claims otherwise, the only pollinators definitively documented to date are orchid bees in the genus ''[[Eulaema]]''<ref name="Lubinsky-2006">{{cite journal|last1=Lubinsky|first1=Pesach|last2=Van Dam|first2=Matthew|last3=Van Dam|first3=Alex|title=Pollination of Vanilla and Evolution in the Orchidaceae |journal=Lindleyana |date=2006 |volume=75 |issue=12 |pages=926–9 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288609351|access-date=20 November 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121041917/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Matthew_Van_Dam/publication/288609351_Pollination_of_Vanilla_and_evolution_in_Orchidaceae/links/56fecd7608ae1408e15d0bc2.pdf|archive-date=21 November 2016}}</ref> and the [[Western honey bee]].<ref name="Pemberton-2023">{{cite journal|last1=Pemberton|first1=Robert|last2=Wheeler|first2=Gregory|last3=Madeira|first3=Paul|title=Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Pollination of Vanilla planifolia in Florida and Their Potential in Commercial Production|journal=Florida Entomologist|date=2023|volume=104|issue=4|pages=230–237|doi=10.1653/024.106.0404 |doi-access=free}}</ref> All commercial vanilla production takes place via hand pollination by humans.

The first vanilla orchid to flower in Europe was in the London collection of the Honourable Charles Greville in 1806. Cuttings from that plant went to Netherlands and Paris, from which the French first transplanted the vines to their overseas colonies. The vines grew, but would not fruit outside Mexico. The only known way to produce fruits is [[pollination management|artificial pollination]]. Today, even in Mexico, hand pollination is used extensively. In 1837, botanist [[Charles François Antoine Morren]] began experimenting with hand pollination of ''Vanilla'' orchids in cultivation in Europe.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Morren |first=C. |year=1837 |title=Note sur la première fructification du Vanillier en Europe (Note on the first fruiting of vanilla in Europe) |journal=Annales de la Société Royale d'Horticulture de Paris |volume=20 |pages=331–334}}  Morren describes the process of artificially pollinating vanilla on p. 333:  "{{lang|fr|En effet, aucun fruit n'a été produit que sur les cinquante-quatre fleurs auxquelles j'avais artificiellement communiqué le pollen. On enlève le tablier ou on le soulève, et on met en contact avec le stigmate une mass pollinique entière, ou seulement une partie de cette masse, car une seule de celles-ci, coupée en huit ou dix pièces, peut féconder autant de fleurs.}}" (In effect, fruit has been produced only on fifty-four flowers to which I artificially communicated pollen. One removes the labellum or one raises it, and one places in contact with the stigma a complete mass of pollen [i.e., pollinium], or just a part of that mass, for just one of these, cut into eight or ten pieces, can fertilize as many flowers.) Available on-line at:  [https://web.archive.org/web/20160825231127/http://www.hortalia.org/viewer/show/216#page/n679/mode/2up Hortalia.org]</ref> The method proved financially unworkable and was not deployed commercially.<ref name="Hazen-1995">{{cite book |title=Vanilla |url=https://archive.org/details/vanilla00haze |url-access=registration |author=Janet Hazen |publisher=Chronicle Books |year=1995 |isbn=9780811802543 }}</ref> A few years later in 1841, a simple and efficient artificial hand-pollination method was developed by a 12-year-old slave named Edmond Albius on Réunion, a method still used today.<ref name=silvercloud>{{cite web |url=http://www.silvercloudestates.com/vanilla_history.aspx |title=History of Vanilla |author=Silver Cloud Estates |publisher=Silver Cloud Estates |access-date=23 July 2008 |quote=In 1837 the Belgian botanist Morren succeeded in artificially pollinating the vanilla flower. On Reunion, Morren's process was attempted, but failed. It was not until 1841 that a 12-year-old slave by the name of Edmond Albius discovered the correct technique of hand-pollinating the flowers. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219152341/http://www.silvercloudestates.com/vanilla_history.aspx |archive-date=19 February 2008 }}</ref> <!--He had been shown how to manually pollinate other vegetable species by hand by his master Férréol Bellier-Beaumont}}<Vanilla:Travels in Search of the Luscious Substance(Ecott)>--> Using a beveled sliver of [[bamboo]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.hindu.com/edu/2004/05/10/stories/2004051000900300.htm |title=Flower with money power |date=10 May 2004 |access-date=1 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090623222730/http://www.hindu.com/edu/2004/05/10/stories/2004051000900300.htm |archive-date=23 June 2009 |newspaper=[[The Hindu]] }}</ref> an agricultural worker lifts the membrane separating the anther and the [[Gynoecium|stigma]], then, using the thumb, transfers the [[pollinia]] from the anther to the stigma. The flower, self-pollinated, will then produce a fruit. The vanilla flower lasts about one day, sometimes less, so growers have to inspect their plantations every day for open flowers, a labor-intensive task.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

The [[fruit]], a seed [[capsule (fruit)|capsule]], if left on the plant, ripens and opens at the end; as it dries, the [[natural phenol|phenolic]] compounds [[crystallization|crystallize]], giving the fruits a diamond-dusted appearance, which the French call ''givre'' (hoarfrost). It then releases the distinctive vanilla smell. The fruit contains tiny, black seeds. In dishes prepared with whole natural vanilla, these seeds are recognizable as black specks. Both the pod and the seeds are used in cooking.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Like other orchids' seeds, vanilla seeds will not germinate without the presence of certain [[Orchid mycorrhiza|mycorrhizal]] [[fungi]]. Instead, growers reproduce the plant by [[cutting (plant)|cutting]]: they remove sections of the vine with six or more leaf nodes, a root opposite each leaf. The two lower leaves are removed, and this area is buried in loose soil at the base of support. The remaining upper roots cling to the support, and often grow down into the soil. Growth is rapid under good conditions.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

===Cultivars===
[[File:Madagascar bourbon vanilla x.jpg|thumb|upright 0.7|A bottle of vanilla extract]]

* '''Bourbon vanilla''' or '''Bourbon-Madagascar vanilla''', produced from ''V. planifolia'' plants introduced from the Americas, is from [[Indian Ocean]] islands such as [[Madagascar]], the [[Comoros]], [[Mauritius]] and [[Réunion]], formerly named the [[Île Bourbon]]. It is also used to describe the distinctive vanilla flavor derived from ''V. planifolia'' grown successfully in tropical countries such as India. However, there is no [[Bourbon whiskey]] in Bourbon vanilla extract, despite common confusion about this.
* '''Mexican vanilla''', made from the native ''V. planifolia'',<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7O5YpNRnpNoC&q=Mexican+vanilla,+made+from+the+native+V.+planifolia&pg=PA44|title=The Art and Soul of Baking|last1=Mushet|first1=Cindy|last2=Table|first2=Sur La|date=2008-10-21|publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing|isbn=9780740773341|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171208201835/https://books.google.com/books?id=7O5YpNRnpNoC&pg=PA44&dq=Mexican+vanilla,+made+from+the+native+V.+planifolia&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjqpOyItePUAhVY12MKHQ2bD6IQ6AEILjAB#v=onepage&q=Mexican%20vanilla,%20made%20from%20the%20native%20V.%20planifolia&f=false|archive-date=8 December 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref> is produced in much less quantity and marketed as the vanilla from the land of its origin.
* '''Tahitian vanilla''' is from [[French Polynesia]], made with ''V. tahitensis''. Genetic analysis shows this species is possibly a cultivar from a hybrid of ''V. planifolia'' and ''V. odorata''. The species was introduced by French Admiral [[François Alphonse Hamelin]] to French Polynesia from the [[Philippines]], where it was introduced from [[Guatemala]] by the [[Manila Galleon]] trade.<ref name="ucr">{{cite web|url=http://newsroom.ucr.edu/1911|title=Tahitian Vanilla Originated in Maya Forests, Says UC Riverside Botanist|publisher=University of California at Riverside, Newsroom|date=21 August 2008|access-date=28 June 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517110743/http://newsroom.ucr.edu/1911|archive-date=17 May 2017}}</ref> It comprises less than one percent of vanilla production and is only grown by a handful of skilled growers and preparers.<ref>{{cite web |title=What are The Best Vanilla Beans to Buy and Why? |url=https://www.slofoodgroup.com/blogs/recipes-stories/what-are-the-best-vanilla-beans-to-buy-and-why |website=Slofoodgroup |access-date=30 December 2020}}</ref>
* '''West Indian vanilla''' is made from ''V. pompona'' grown in the [[Caribbean]] and [[Central America|Central]] and [[South America]].<ref name=usdaplants>{{PLANTS |symbol=VAPO2 |taxon=Vanilla pompona |url-status=dead |url=http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=VAPO2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081009163405/http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=VAPO2 |archivedate=9 October 2008 |access-date=24 July 2008 }}</ref>

The term ''French vanilla'' is often used to designate particular preparations with a strong vanilla aroma, containing vanilla grains and sometimes also containing eggs (especially egg yolks). The appellation originates from the French style of making [[vanilla ice cream]] with a [[custard]] base, using vanilla pods, cream, and egg yolks. Inclusion of vanilla varietals from any of the [[French colonial empire|former French dependencies]] or [[overseas France]] may be a part of the flavoring. Alternatively, French vanilla is taken to refer to a vanilla-custard flavor.

===Chemistry===
{{Main|Vanillin}}
[[File:vanillin.svg|thumb|upright|Chemical structure of [[vanillin]]]]

Vanilla essence occurs in two forms. Real seedpod [[vanilla extract|extract]] is a complex mixture of several hundred different compounds, including vanillin, [[acetaldehyde]], [[acetic acid]], [[furfural]], [[hexanoic acid]], [[4-hydroxybenzaldehyde]], [[eugenol]], [[methyl cinnamate]], and [[isobutyric acid]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/comparison-compounds-bourbon-vanilla-extract-and-vanilla-flavour|title=Comparison of Compounds in Bourbon Vanilla Extract and Vanilla Flavour|journal=The Application Notebook|date=July 2015|last1=Margraf|first1=Marelke|series=The Application Notebook-07-01-2015 }}</ref> Synthetic essence consists of a solution of synthetic vanillin in [[ethanol]]. The chemical compound [[vanillin]] (4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde) is a major contributor to the characteristic flavor and aroma of real vanilla and is the main flavor component of [[Curing (vegetable preservation)|cured]] vanilla beans.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Bomgardner, M.M. | date = 2016 | url = http://cen.acs.org/articles/94/i36/problem-vanilla.html | title = The problem with vanilla | journal = Chemical and Engineering News | volume = 94 | issue = 36 | pages = 38–42 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170910221238/http://cen.acs.org/articles/94/i36/problem-vanilla.html | archive-date = 10 September 2017 | doi=10.1021/cen-09436-cover| doi-access = free }}</ref> Vanillin was first isolated from vanilla pods by Gobley in 1858.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Gobley, N.-T. | date = 1858 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Yrs8AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA401 | title = Recherches sur le principe odorant de la vanilla | trans-title = Research on the fragrant substance of vanilla | journal = Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie |series=Series 3 | volume = 34 | pages = 401–405 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160603194057/https://books.google.com/books?id=Yrs8AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA401 | archive-date = 3 June 2016 }}</ref> By 1874, it had been obtained from glycosides of pine tree sap, temporarily causing a depression in the natural vanilla industry. Vanillin can be easily synthesized from various raw materials, but the majority of food-grade (> 99% pure) vanillin is made from [[guaiacol]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vanillin {{!}} Baking Ingredients |url=https://bakerpedia.com/ingredients/vanillin/ |access-date=2022-03-11 |website=BAKERpedia |date=17 November 2016 |language=en-US}}</ref>