Chocolate and Vanilla
Although many people think of chocolate and vanilla as opponents in the world of flavor (do you like chocolate or vanilla better?), almost all chocolate products include vanilla or vanilla flavoring. Because true vanilla is so expensive (it is the second most expensive flavoring agent after saffron), checking ingredient lists for vanilla is one great way to tell higher-quality chocolate from lower-quality chocolate—the inclusion of vanilla suggests that the company cares enough about flavor to pay a high price for premium ingredients. Artificial vanilla flavor refers to a cheaper, commercially synthesized product.
The Vanilla Orchid
True vanilla pods come from the Vanilla planifolia, a tropical orchid with small yellow flowers. Oddly, of the tens of thousands of orchid species in existence, the Vanilla planifolia is the only known species that produces anything edible. Even more odd is the fact that the bean that develops when the vanilla flower is fertilized is devoid of any odor or flavor. The familiar vanilla scent comes about only when the bean is fermented and aged.
Pollination
Pollination is one spectacularly labor intensive aspect of vanilla production. Vanilla flowers are only open for one day, and if they are not pollinated on that day, they will not produce a vanilla bean. Since the bees and hummingbirds that pollinate vanilla flowers do not care about the success of commercial production, there is no guarantee that they will be on the job at the appropriate moment. Therefore, vanilla flowers are pollinated by hand. This entails delicately taking pollen from the stamen of one vanilla flower and placing it on the stigma of another. A very fast employee can fertilize between 500 and 1,500 flowers in one day.
Vanilla Beans
Once a vanilla flower is pollinated, a bean begins to form--each tree usually produces about 50-150 pods. It takes around six weeks for the beans to reach adult size, and then takes up to nine months for them to mature. Once the tips of the beans turn yellow, they are ready to be harvested. The beans are then cut from the tree by hand. It is interesting to note that the vanilla bean is devoid of any odor or flavor when it is first harvested. The familiar vanilla scent comes about only when the bean is fermented, which can take several months, and aged, which can take up to two years. To make vanilla extract, cured vanilla beans are cut into small pieces and macerated in alcohol and water.
What is Vanillin?
Vanillin, (4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde) although it is the major flavor compound in true vanilla, is only one of 250 or so components that contribute to vanilla’s characteristic and complex aroma. Because of this, vanillin itself tastes very simple when compared to true vanilla. Due to vanilla’s high cost, many companies can’t afford to use real vanilla in their products. The market is now flooded with products that use imitation or artificial vanilla--these include chocolates, marshmallows, and cake mixes. Although vanillin is sometimes made from the ground up pods of the vanilla plant, it is most commonly produced using lignin, a by-product of the paper manufacturing process. Converting by-products to vanillin became a cheap (and profitable) way to dispose of waste that was causing environmental problems. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather consume a product from a rainforest plant than a by-product from a manufacturing plant! Viva vanilla!