Mon. Mar. 24 - Mexican Vanilla

Rob and Sue wanted to buy Mexican vanilla since it is suppose to be the best in the world.  They began to research vanilla before they made their purchase this week.  They are returning back to cold Canada this Saturday.  

Lots of good info. on vanilla is

at this site ...

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla

Here is just a little info. to wet your taste buds ...

1.  Vanilla is a flavor.

1. It is derived from the flat leaved Mexican vanilla orchid.
2. The name comes from the Spanish word, “vaina”, meaning little pod.
3. The Aztecs called the vanilla vine, “tlilxochitl”, or black flower.
4. Cortes introduced vanilla into Europe in 1520.
5. It was difficult to grow vanilla outside of Mexico because the symbiotic relationship between the Mexican Melipona bee and the vanilla plant was necessary for a very special pollination.
6. In 1841, Edmond Albius, a slave who lived on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean, discovered at the age of 12 that the plant could be hand-pollinated. Hand-pollination allowed global cultivation of the plant.
7. The majority of the world's vanilla is the V. planifolia species, more commonly known as Bourbon vanilla (after the former name of Réunion, Île Bourbon) or Madagascar vanilla, which is produced in Madagascar and neighboring islands in the southwestern Indian Ocean, and in Indonesia.
8. Vanilla is the second most expensive spice after saffron, because growing the vanilla seed pods is labor-intensive.
9. The Totonac people, who inhabit the East Coast of Mexico in the present-day state of Veracruz, were the first to cultivate vanilla.
10. In the 1800’s, Madagascar was responsible for producing most of the vanilla, now it is Indonesia.
11. The price of vanilla fluctuated from 20US$ per kilogram to 500US$ for the last 30 years due to cyclones and the cartel.  Now it is at 40US$.
12. An estimated 95% of "vanilla" products now are artificially flavored with vanillin derived from lignin instead of vanilla fruits.[14]