Vanilla planifolia

Spice Vanilla ( Vanilla planifolia )

The spice vanilla - pronunciation: [ vanɪlə; - ljə ]; Swiss and South German [ vanɪl ] - (Vanilla planifolia ) or True Vanilla is an orchid plant. The name comes from the Spanish over the French vanilla vainilla ( small sleeve or pod ' to Latin vagina ). Spice Vanilla is commercially available under the names of bourbon vanilla and Mexican vanilla. The plant has green - yellowish flowers and produces seed pods from which the spice vanilla is produced.

Description

The Spice Vanilla is an evergreen climbing plant, the sparsely branched shoot reaches lengths of 10 to 15 meters. The dark green stem axis is round in cross section and usually take about 1, more rarely up to 2 inches thick. The length of the internodes is quite variable and is 4-10 cm, occasionally more. The absent or very short -stalked leaves are shaped oblong or oblong- oval, rounded at the base, pointed at the end, or with a long tapered end. The blade length is 8 to 25 inches, the width of 2-8 inches. Each leaf springs over an aerial root, which is around first in cross section, but may attach flat and fixed to a backing on contact.

The inflorescence arises from the leaf axils in the upper part of the plant, very rare, he sits at the engine terminal. The inflorescence axis is slightly angular in cross section, measuring 0.4 to 1 cm in diameter. It is 5 to 8 inches long, slightly curved and bears 6 to 15, sometimes 20 or 30 flowers. Each flower is in the armpit of a small oblong to oval liner sheet. The bracts are 0.5 to 1.5 inches long and 0.7 inches wide. The fragrant, yellowish - green flowers are a waxy appearance. Within an inflorescence they bloom in succession, a single flower is only open for about eight hours before they wilted. The ovary is slightly curved, 4 to 7 inches long with 0.3 to 0.5 centimeters in diameter; in cross-section it is almost round. The outer petals ( sepals ) have also with open flower to the front, they are oblong to slightly spatulate, the ends are blunt and bent outwards, the length is 4 to 7 inches at 1 to 1.5 inches wide. The lateral petals resemble the sepals, they are a little smaller and not as thick. On the outside, the midrib is emerging as a raised keel. The lip is 4 to 5 inches long and 1.5 to 3 inches wide. Especially in the front of it is darker and clearer yellow than the other petals. At the base it is grown for a piece with the column, even earlier the sides of the lip are beaten up and envelop the column, the peak is spread out or folded down. The front edge of the lip is slightly wavy. Along the lip running multiple rows warty papillae, which are longest in the middle. Centered on the lip is located a rearwardly tufts. The column is 3 to 5 inches long, slightly thickened club-shaped forward, hairy on the underside. The capsule fruit ( colloquially called " vanilla bean " ) is 10 to 25 inches long not bent at 0.8 to 1.5 centimeters in diameter, it is. At maturity they will jump on along two slots and sets a number of shiny, dark brown to black seeds freely.

Toxicity

The fruit of Vanilla planifolia is only slightly toxic in constant use, but has a skin irritant and allergen.

Active ingredients: 1.5-3 % vanillin ( vanilla bourbon 3.2-3.7 %), vanillic, Vanillylalkokol, Protecatechualdehyd, Protecatechusäure. The vanilla flavor is based next to the vanillin on the occurrence of numerous impurities.

Pharmacological action: For workers who are engaged in the sorting and packaging of vanilla, occur rashes, headaches and insomnia. Allergic and irritant contact dermatitis are known in English under the name " vanillism ". They usually occur occupationally, that is, among those persons who have to reap the fruits vanilla and pack.

The enjoyment of vanilla -containing foods (even vanilla ice cream ) sometimes results in urticarial symptoms and Face swelling in allergic patients. The contact allergens responsible for the vanilla allergy are unknown. With sufficient certainty you can say, however, that neither vanillin nor derived from this or with this closely related compounds, such as Vanillyl alcohol, ethyl vanillin, cinnamic acid, isoeugenol, inter alia, the actual cause.

Dissemination

Origin of vanilla spice is Mexico and Central America. Mainly because of the aromatic ingredient vanillin in the black after fermentation capsules she was already among the aborigines of Mexico, the Aztecs, under the Nahuatl Aztec name tlilxochitl ( = black flower ) known as a spice. The Spanish explorers brought vanilla to Europe. As they grew only in Mexico, the Spaniards long time had a monopoly on vanilla. Today it is grown in tropical areas around the world, with especially Madagascar and Réunion are to name the most important growing regions.

Vanilla cultivation

Commercial cultivation of vanilla is almost exclusively for the production of the spice vanilla. Attempts to cultivate the vanilla outside Mexico and breed, failed a long time, since it can be pollinated only by very specific, occurring only in Mexico and Central America, bees and hummingbirds. In other countries where these natural pollinators do not occur, the person must take over their function. In plantations will always be pollinated by hand, as this percentage may be increased in the costs vanilla pods.

It was only in 1837 succeeded the Belgian botanist Charles Morren to elucidate the mechanism of propagation of vanilla and perform artificial pollination in a greenhouse. Almost at the same time, in 1841, the plantation slaves Edmond Albius also succeeded artificial pollination, as a reward, he is said to have later obtained his freedom. Due to the labor-intensive artificial pollination with a cactus or bamboo spike - about 1000-1500 blossoms creates a practiced plantation worker on the day - Vanilla can also be grown outside Mexico.

The island of Madagascar supplies 80 % of global demand. Up to 2,000 tons of spice vanilla pods are harvested here each year. Thus, they bear fruit, they must be pollinated by hand. The harvesting and processing is complex. The fruit must be blanched for weeks to dry in the sun and then mature into boxes before they get their characteristic flavor.

The Bourbon vanilla has its name from the long-term main suppliers of vanilla, the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean, which was called Ile Bourbon 1848 until the French Revolution and then again from 1810 until the February Revolution. Today, the main growing areas are Madagascar ( of northern Madagascar supplies more than 50 % of world production), the Comoros and third Réunion; Mexico only delivers about 10% of vanilla production. Other growing areas are Mauritius, Indonesia (Java), Seychelles, Tahiti and Zanzibar. One of the world's biggest customers include Coca -Cola and Pepsi -Cola, which decrease about 40 tons each.

Price developments and the " Coca -Cola Crash" 1985

The market price of vanilla is subject to sharp fluctuations in decades. He rose drastically in the late 70s due to a typhoon. Mid-80s, the existing since 1930 cartel broke up, the controlled vanilla prices and distribution. In addition, led one of the main customers, the Coca- Cola Company, a New Coke in 1985. New Coke was generated with a synthetic vanillin, which was cheaper and less price volatility than real vanilla. The market price began to decline now to nearly 20 U.S. dollars per kilogram. Thus, the Madagascar's economy collapsed. She recovered again only when New Coke turned out to be a flop in the market.

2002 was presented by Coca -Cola as a new product Vanilla Coke, which is even more flavored with vanilla. In addition, the typhoon devastated Huddah 2000 growing areas in the year. All this, together with political instability, caused an increase of vanilla prices to U.S. $ 500 per kilogram in 2004. In 2005, the market price had fallen back to 40 U.S. dollars per kilogram.