Description
Yes, your favorite vanilla ice cream gets its flavor from an orchid! Many people are shocked that vanilla is an orchid, probably because most of them think an orchid is one of those nice flowers you see in offices and supermarkets. Here’s news for you: the orchid family is massive, with around 30,000 known species, many with amazing forms, colors, shapes, and uses. The quest for new flavors has been going on since humans could eat, and some people will eat just about anything, so it’s no surprise that a hungry Aztec one day decided to eat a vanilla “bean” (note: they’re NOT beans, they’re seed capsules that result from the pollination of the Vanilla orchid flower), and decided it tasted pretty good. Since chocolate also comes from the same Central and South American region, they started adding vanilla flavoring to their chocolate drinks, and when the Spanish took over, the conquistadors sent vanilla and chocolate back to the Old World. The rest is history.
Vanilla planifolia is the most economically important orchid, by far. If all orchids were to disappear from stores tomorrow, folks would simply switch to other flowers. But if vanilla disappeared tomorrow, things would get bad, with civil unrest soon to follow. Actually, that’s not quite true, as some clever chemist has already figured out how to make vanilla flavoring from, of all things, wood pulp. But wouldn’t you prefer all-natural REAL vanilla that you grew yourself? Well, get on the bandwagon and grow your own! Vanilla thrives in warm, humid conditions and as a vine (unlike the vast majority of orchids) will eventually grow up and around trees, stakes, etc. The plants we’re offering are still about two to three years from blooming, but once they bloom, you can pollinate it with its own pollen (plenty of videos online that show you how), and six to nine months later, dry that seed capsule out, drop it into a bottle of vodka, and you’ve got your own vanilla extract, or a fancy new cocktail.
