Vanilla

An orchid from the forests of Veracruz whose pods the Totonacs and Aztecs added to chocolate long before Europeans arrived.

Vanilla is a climbing orchid with fleshy green stems that use aerial roots to climb trees to well over ten metres. Its pale greenish-yellow flowers open for only a few hours, and in cultivation they are pollinated by hand. The flowers develop into long green capsules known as pods, which are scalded, “sweated” and dried over several months until they turn dark and develop the aroma of vanillin. Because cultivation is so labour-intensive, it is one of the most expensive spices in the world.

Significance in the country

Mexico is the homeland of vanilla – the Totonacs around Papantla have grown it for centuries, and the Aztecs called it “tlilxóchitl”, the “black flower”. Vanilla from Papantla has a protected designation of origin, and the town prides itself on being “the city that perfumed the world”.

Where it grows

The Totonacapan region in northern Veracruz (Papantla, Gutiérrez Zamora) and neighbouring Puebla; smaller plantings in Oaxaca and in the Huasteca Potosina of San Luis Potosí.

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