Some history...
Vanilla is native from tropical America but it's the discovery of the New World by the conquistadors who brought Europe to meet her. The Mexicans used vanilla for a very long time and called it "Tlilixochitl" which means "black bean". (Around 1479-1520) Conquistador Hernando Cortez in Mexico was invited by the Emperor Moctezuma. He tasted a chocolate drink flavored with vanilla. This was probably the first European who tasted this aromatic. Although the Aztecs might take care to conceal the secret of the flavor of the drink, the Conquistadores discovered very quickly the origin of this flavor. Since 1510, vanilla appeared at the court of Spain and then from 1604 in France where we commonly use in coffee and chocolate. In the early 19th century vanilla plants were imported into the Indian Ocean to Java, Mauritius and the Reunion Island trying to grow this amazing aromatic.
While in Mexico, the flower is fertile with a species of bee Meliponas and without human intervention, it wasn't the case on other continents where the species was not endemic.
The first artificial pollination was conducted in 1836 at the Botanical Garden of Liege, and in France in 1837, in 1841 Edmond Albius developed the process of fertilization still used today.
Fertilization was not enough to have a good vanilla. Ernest Loupy discovered the process of boiling that improved yields and quality. This discovery has contributed greatly to the development of culture in other horizons. Indeed, vanilla was introduced in 1866 to the Seychelles in 1871 in Madagascar, the Comoros in 1891, Tahiti, Uganda and then to Ceylon in 1912.
These are the farmers of Bourbon who introduced the culture of Vanilla Island Red on the island of Nosy Be, north-west in the Mozambique channel. The craze is exponential and in 1924, Madagascar exported over 300 tons of vanilla and became the world's largest exporter.
Vanilla these days...
Currently, the Vanilla is grown in Madagascar, of course, but also to the Comoros, Reunion (Bourbon Island), Indonesia, French Polynesia ... Some artisans consider it also as naturally present in Turkey and in some states of northern South America..
