Most people are familiar with the taste of Vanilla and have often come across it either bottled in the form of extract or in its original state as whole dried pods.
It is used to enhance many eatables including ice-cream and cakes and is even a component of fine perfumes.
It is a little known fact however, that this delicious substance comes from vanilla orchids, the Vanilla Planifolia.
This originates from South America and was first discovered by an ancient Mexican tribe, the Totonacs.
Vanilla orchids thrive in extremely warm daytime temperatures up to 90 degrees F.
Like all of these plants, vanilla orchids like a reduction in its overnight temperature to around 60-70 degrees F and demands a high level of humidity of around 80%.
Its preference for growing in elevated places such as trees is an excellent way for it to get the shady conditions it needs to survive, but in agriculture, it can be grown on canes or some other form of support which will also enable it to attain this required altitude.
The vanilla orchid is supported by root extensions that intertwine around its support frame.
It produces blossoms that are extremely short-lived, often lasting no more than 24 hours.
The flower must be pollinated before it dies and this can only be done naturally by a certain type of Bee called the Melipone.
This breed exists only in Mexico so before the mid 1800's, it was impossible to grow these orchids anywhere else.
However, the discovery of the method of hand pollination changed all this and the vanilla orchid is now cultivated in many countries including Madagascar, Indonesia and China.
The credit for the invention of artificial pollination can be shared mainly by two people.
The first was the botanist Charles Morren who conceptualized this in the mid 1830's by watching some bees performing the task of pollination.
The second was a young slave boy, Edmond Albius who around five years later, actually invented a way of hand pollination that actually worked successfully in practice.
It is unlikely that the two had ever met, yet they both dreamed up a concept so similar within just a few short years of each other.
After pollination has occurred, the vanilla orchid develops seed pods which contain the distinctive black vanilla seeds.
The pod is not usually removed from the stem until it has had time to ripen, a process which takes up to nine months.
A ripe pod will have a yellowish tinge on the end of it rather than being just a solid dark greenish shade.
Harvesting the pods is not an easy business since the timing has to be absolutely right.
Pods that are picked too late will crack open thus exposing their contents and reducing their value.
This is a process that has to be undertaken manually and because of the short time frame in which the task has to be completed, requires many workers to be involved.
After harvesting vanilla orchids, further growth of the seed is stopped by subjecting it to an extreme of temperature, either boiling hot or freezing cold.
It is then sweated out, dried and then left in wooden boxes for a certain length of time to allow the flavor to develop.
The worldwide demand for vanilla orchids is massive and it is almost as expensive as saffron.
Many synthetic chemicals exist which attempt to mimic the taste but the difference between these and the real thing are very noticeable to anyone who has experienced both and this makes the high price a lot more easier to swallow! It is amazing when you stop to consider that had it not been for a young, relatively uneducated child, then this exquisite substance would have remained an exotic luxury unknown to so many of us.
So the next time you experience the delicate taste of real vanilla, just stop and think of all the hard work that has gone into taking it from a humble, resilient vanilla orchid and bringing it to your table.