Vanilla from Mexico

This vanilla, grown in the Papantla region of Southern Mexico, with its fruity chocolatey notes is perfect for all your baking and desserts.

It’s harvested in the undergrowth of the humid forests of Mexico since the 12^th century.

The complex aromas of this Vanilla planifolia are like an old bourbon. It’s delicious for egg custards, crème brûlée, home-made jam or even a cream sauce. Split the pod open to release the seeds, before adding to custards, home-made rice pudding, chocolate desserts, home-made sorbets, macarons or simply your pancake mixture.

“Mexico is the birthplace of vanilla.”

Vanilla initially comes from Mexico where the Aztecs used it to sweeten the bitterness of chocolate. The Totonac people, from the coastal regions of the golf of Mexico, were the first to grow vanilla. They called vanilla “caxixanath” which means “hidden flower”. The Totonac people retained the monopoly of vanilla growing until the 19th century. Any attempts by the Europeans to grow vanilla outside of its natural habitat failed.

Louis XIV was a great lover of vanilla and wanted to grow it on La Réunion island (then called île Bourbon),. But all attempts during his reign failed. Nobody know how to fertilise vanilla outside of its natural habitat.

The Europeans did not know that it was in fact the Mexican Melipona bee which was the insect that pollinated the flower. It was not until 1850 when a slave from La Réunion, Edmond Albius, discovered how to pollinate the flower manually. To thank him for this wonderful discovery he was set free. Once free he took the name Albius refering to the white colour (alba) of the vanilla orchid. Vanilla growing was then introduced around 1880 to Nosy Bé in Madagascar.