The Food Alphabetical: U is for Vanilla

OK, OK, don't write in. At least I didn't take up your time with a competition. So what would you have included under U? Ugli fruit was the only thing which came to mind, and that's just a hybrid which looks like a misshapen grapefruit. All that the Larousse Gastronomique could add was unleavened bread, and to me that begins with a B. So, vanilla it is.

You maybe knew it is a type of orchid? So did I, but I learnt that only recently. Larousse tells us that the most prized vanilla comes from Mexico. That did come as a surprise, but in fact it originated there. It was first cultivated by the Totonac people who lived in the region of modern day Veracruz. From 1185, apparently. (How the hell did anyone find that out?) They apparently used it mostly in temples and amulets.

But then they were invaded by the Aztecs. As you will remember from the C is for Cocoa and Chocolate column (September 2020, how can you have forgotten so soon?), they were brand leaders on the chocolate front. The trouble was that their xocolatl  was on the bitter side, and they had no access to sugar cane. Chocolate and vanilla - a marriage made in Aztec heaven.

If you ever use the stuff, you'll know that it's frighteningly expensive. There are various reasons. Firstly, it's very difficult to grow. In the wild less than 1% of vanilla plants will produce anything. Even in its place of origin there aren't many natural pollinators. Thus in the early days world wide, there really wasn't much of the stuff. The French tried growing it in various of their tropical colonies but, until 1841, with little success.

Enter a 12 year old slave named Edmond Albius. He lived on the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. His master must have been a decent sort of man, since the young Albius already knew a fair bit of botany, having been taught about fertilisation of flowers. He invented a technique for hand pollination of vanilla which is still used today.

Even now, however, there still isn't a lot of it about. In 2020 worldwide production was just over 7600 tonnes. Madagascar and Indonesia account for about two thirds of that. What we use in the purest form are the dried pods. I often write about the etymology of food names, but here it gets a little smutty. Look it up for yourself.

As you probably know, you split the pod open and scrape out the seeds, the basis for the finest ice creams and custards. If instead of throwing the used pod away you put it in a jar of sugar, you will soon have a quantity of wonderfully perfumed vanilla sugar. But where you have a luxury ingredient (by weight, it's the second most expensive spice after saffron), you will very soon have cheaper alternatives.

Take vanilla extract (as opposed to essence). It will probably (but not necessarily) have had some connection to real vanilla: vanilla essence - highly unlikely. The reason is that a long time ago, scientists identified vanillin, the chemical which provides the distinctive taste. It's easy enough to synthesise, and most of the synthetic stuff comes from wood pulp.

A lot of chefs these days will use the similar but cheaper tonka bean. Nothing wrong with that if it has been correctly produced. The caveat is that in 1996 the US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) discovered that a lot of cheaper so called vanilla products contained not only tonka, but also a related toxin called coumarin.

It gets worse. The USFDA has licensed another so called natural flavoring which finds its way into vanilla and raspberry flavourings. You have as much chance of guessing what it is as of working out that U stood for Vanilla. I refer of course to castoreum, a substance obtained from the castor sacs of mature beavers. I wonder if the vegetarian lobby is aware.

I hate to finish any article on a negative note, so let's change the tone. Real vanilla is one of the world's great ingredients. It has warmth, it has subtlety and it enhances so many of our great dishes. I love it. And as with any delectable but expensive ingredient, surely it is worth enjoying and rejoicing in the real thing as an occasional treat, as opposed to using synthetic crap on a regular basis.

When The Food Alphabetical returns, there will be a real V.

Tom's Food will be back in two weeks.