Tim Ecott is an author and journalist who has spent several years tracing the history and secrets behind one of the most intriguing and important flavour and fragrance ingredients, vanilla, culminating in a fascinating book.

Aware that he was talking to perfumers, Tim opened his talk by describing how natural vanilla absolute is used as a base note ingredient for many fine fragrances, including Chanel No. 5, Opium, Dune and Tresor. Natural vanilla absolute is very expensive, but the synthetic vanilla ingredient, vanillin, is much cheaper. Vanillin is much more likely to be used, especially in flavours – research shows that many people identify vanillin as being more “vanilla-like” than natural vanilla, a sign that our taste buds have been conditioned to recognise and prefer the artificial vanilla flavours.

Vanilla, or vanillin, is perceptible at very low levels. Bourbon vanilla is the premium quality, creamy, hay-like, sweet and aromatic. The Mexican vanilla is more woody, and could even be described as having a spicy note. The third variety that is available is the Tahitian vanilla, which is more fruity. The culinary vogue at the moment is to combine sweet with savoury; for example, duck with vanilla but for that to work it must be Tahitian, not Bourbon!

A test for the quality of the vanilla beans (as they are referred to in America), or pods is that good beans should be flexible – it should be possible to actually tie a knot in one. Many people in the catering industry at least, are not aware that vanilla comes from the fruit (bean or pod) of a climbing orchid. The orchid flower of Vanilla planifolia is quite small, about one inch across, pale yellow or creamy. The way it grows is by climbing up another plant, but it cannot be called a parasite, and it will grow up anything. Planifolia means “flat-leaved” (Tim showed us colour slides of the plants or vines). The vines can grow up to 100 metres in length. The flower has only a very faint floral scent; it is not vanilla-like.

Vanilla is endemic to central and South East Mexico. Mexican cultures use vanilla in perfumery but never in cooking. They use vanilla to perfume their hair, or might tie a bunch of beans in their house behind the door, a sort of natural air freshener.

While Tim was writing his book, the price of the raw beans went from $12.00 / kilo to $600.00 / kilo. This caused quite a stir in the food industry. Vanilla growing is still very much a peasant farmer industry. A middle man collects and buys the beans from the farmers. When the price drops, as it has now, people give up farming vanilla, so it is not successfully farmed as a large-scale production.

Historically, the Aztecs and likely the Mayans before them, used vanilla. The Aztecs used a blend of cacao (chocolate) and vanilla as they found it had special properties – including raising energy levels and as an aphrodisiac. Consequently, only the Royal family and sometimes the army were allowed to consume it. The vanilla was highly prized and used as a form of currency by the Totonacs – evidence of this exists in ancient murals found in Mexico.

The E. U. has been trying to give grants to get more farmers to grow vanilla. Latest estimates say a vanilla vine will live for 1000 years. It does not reproduce very often. There are only about 25 naturally occurring vines in Central America (but remember each of these could be up to 100 metres in length). Tim talked about “the city that perfumed the world”, Papantla, a small town in Mexico which is four and a half hours walk from the nearest urban centre, and here the farmers have no concept of where England is, for example. Tim described how he had to tell them that if it takes 12 hours to drive to Mexico city from Papantla, or 1 hour to fly on a plane, that to travel to England would take 12 hours on a plane. He had to convince them that he was not a vanilla trader; he was a journalist doing research.

The story of vanilla all begins with a couple of kilos of beans they can grow and get payment of a couple of dollars. A co-operative of growers agree on a date that the year’s crop of vanilla can be sold on or after, for example, the 12th December. So if anyone is found with some beans before this agreed date, they must either be stolen or poached. Tim showed slides of big piles of the green, uncured beans. The beans are dipped for 1-2 minutes in boiling water; this starts off the curing process. It is an enzymatic process, and the colour change and the formation of the aromatics begins. The beans are turned and checked until they are dry to make sure there is no rotting. They are left to cure for up to 6 months.

It is actually Coca-Cola that keeps the natural vanilla industry going. Coca-Cola tried to change the formula for the drink in the early 1980’s. They decided they would rather not be dependant on a natural ingredient with such a volatile source of supply and fluctuating prices. They introduced “New Coke”, while making the existing one “Classic Coke”, hoping that people would prefer the new one. They did not, and “New Coke” was a resounding flop, and so they had to keep the classic formula and eventually “New Coke” disappeared altogether.

It is still not known for certain what is the pollinator for Vanilla planifolia. It is thought likely to be one of 2-3 species of bee, but it is specific. As a crop, people, with a stick, manually pollinate it. It was this discovery, that vanilla could be manually pollinated, that meant the French could take control of the growing of vanilla from the Mexicans, and they started growing it on various islands in the Indian Ocean, including the island of La Reunion. It was found that the North East coast of Madagascar has the perfect conditions to grow vanilla. 60% of the world’s crop is now grown there. The annual world usage is around 2000 metric tonnes.

Tim Ecott told us many more fascinating facts about vanilla – but to find those out, you will have to read the book.

Vanilla - Travels in Search of the Luscious Substance by Tim Ecott
ISBN - 0-141-01153-X

Julie Towle