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Vanilla Beans, Madagascar "Bourbon"
The Aztecs referred to vanilla beans as "tlilxochitl" (tea-so-shill) or "xoco-latl", which in their native tongue, Náhuatl, is the word for "Black Flower". |
 Never refrigerate or freeze. Keep in an airtight container, out of sunlight and away from heat. Vanila beans sometimes are speckled with a pale, whitish dust. This is crystallized vanillin, the substance gives them their flavor, and is nothing to worry about! Use pod whole, cut or remove the inner seeds. The easiest way to obtain the inner seed is to split the bean lengthwise, open the bean up flat, and scrap from top to bottom with the edge of a knife. One vanilla bean is equal to 1 tbsp. of extract. We carry 3 types of vanilla beans, these Madagascar “Bourbon” vanilla beans, and a organic version, Mexican vanilla beans and Tahitian vanilla beans.  Vanilla is native to Mexico, where it is still grown commercially. |
The History of the Vanilla Bean
Originally from Central America, vanilla beans are the seed of the climbing orchid, Vanilla planifolia, the only orchid of the 350 known varieties to produce an edible product. When the Spanish arrived in Central America, the Aztecs introduced them to the flavor of vanilla as well as cocoa. Of coarse once they tasted these flavors they had to have them for themselves.
Finding a place to start their plantations wasn’t a problem; they knew that like many spices they needed to be grown very close to the equator. And they grew them only to find that they would bear no fruit. They eventually discovered that they were missing the little bees to pollinate the orchids. This problem was solved when a man from the Reunion Islands realized that using a pointed bamboo stick could lift away a membrane and hand-pollinate the orchids. Then the vanilla boom was on, the French moved in as well and started planting the orchids on many of their tropical islands. To this day those former colonies produce about 80% of all vanilla beans.