Vanilla planifolia 'variegata' (trellis) - Real vanilla plant (young plant)

Vanilla planifolia – exotic jewel

Today, vanilla is as established in our cuisine as cinnamon and sugar. But it has come a long way. It found its way from Mexico to Europe and back to the tropics until it became native to the whole world.

The genus Vanilla belongs to the orchid family, botanists currently recognise 113 species belonging to this genus. They are widespread in tropical and subtropical areas on the Pacific islands as well as the American, African and Asian continents, although most were originally native to South America. They grow creeping or climbing, on trees (epiphytic), on rocks (lithophytic) or in the ground (terrestrial) and their shoots grow a few centimetres or even several metres long. The most famous species, the spice vanilla Vanilla planifolia, has been popular for centuries for its aromatic vanilla pods, but orchid enthusiasts also love it as a special piece of jewellery for their living rooms.

From the jungle to the kitchen – the wild jungle inhabitant becomes a valuable spice

The spice vanilla familiar to us, Vanilla planifolia, is a Mexican climbing plant that was already known to the ancient Aztecs as the black flower "Tlilchoxchitl", a flavoursome spice plant. At the time, consumption of this noble plant was reserved for royalty and it would be a long time before vanilla became a spice for everyone. Although the Aztecs tried to preserve vanilla as their culinary secret, it was discovered by the Spanish on their colonial expeditions at the beginning of the 16th century. In addition to important crops such as the potato, tomato and pumpkin, they also brought significant quantities of vanilla back to Europe.

And there it became popular, with traders selling it at high prices to the rich and noble. It became a fashionable spice in princely and royal households. For a long time, the Spanish had a monopoly on vanilla. It reached an enormous economic value; for that reason, the Spanish made its export a capital offence. However, it was only about a hundred years later, at the beginning of the 17th century, that the English came up with the idea of researching the cultivation of vanilla with living exported plants, to make production more economical. The French, in turn, brought it to tropical regions, to their colony of Réunion, to turn it into a plantation crop. However, their efforts were unsuccessful, as the natural pollinators of the vanilla, the bee and hummingbird species native to Mexico, were absent. It was not until 1841 that Edmond Albius, a slave, discovered that vanilla plants form their valuable seed pods when pollinated by hand. A brilliant method, which is still practised on plantations today and gained Edmond Albius his freedom.

As a result, vanilla was then mass-produced on tropical plantations and shipped to Europe. Seven years after the revealing of the pollination secret, merchant ships brought fifty kilograms of vanilla to Europe; almost forty years later, it was over two tonnes.
But even plantation cultivation could not make vanilla affordable for everyone; a pound of the fine spice still cost as much as a labourer earned in a week. And while the planters became rich, nature and the native population suffered from the Europeans’ vanilla fever. The workers were fobbed off with starvation wages and in the Seychelles, plantation owners cleared entire forests to make space for vanilla cultivation, so that the soil was eroded by the weather.

But the boom in the vanilla business was abruptly slowed by pest infestations. Above all, the fungal disease Calospora vanillae caused severe losses on the plantations in Java, Madagascar and the Mascarenes. It would take until after the Second World War before chemical pesticides could curb the fungus.

In the mid-19th century, a groundbreaking discovery caused the value of real vanilla to collapse and the capitalistic delusions of the colonialists to crash. While searching for an artificial dextrose, two doctoral students at Humboldt University Berlin discovered vanillin, a chemically produced vanilla aroma, in 1874. However, it still took until the turn of the century for production to be optimised so it could be manufactured cost-effectively. Today it is obtained from lignin, a by-product of the paper industry, and used in large quantities in the food, cosmetics and perfume industries.

Yet despite competition from the test tube, Vanilla planifolia remains an important crop. Up to 2,000 tonnes of vanilla pods are exported from Madagascar every year. And it is now no longer just a useful plant but, like its siblings of the orchid family, is also popular as a houseplant.

From the kitchen to the windowsill – the right care

With Vanilla planifolia, everyone can bring an exotic rarity into their home. Anyone familiar with orchid care will have no trouble cultivating a Vanilla planifolia, as its requirements are similar to those of other orchid species.

For the plant to thrive, it is crucial that it has been grown in our latitudes and not under completely different environmental conditions in the tropics, from where many dealers import them in large numbers. Only buy a Vanilla planifolia from an orchid grower, not from a hardware store.
Vanilla planifolia requires either a plant pot with a climbing frame, so it can grow upwards, or a hanging basket, in which its shoots have plenty of space to spread downwards. It prefers a semi-shady to shady but bright location and must not be exposed to direct sun in summer. The tropical plant loves warm temperatures all year round of at least 18 degrees Celsius and a high humidity of about 80 percent. It therefore flourishes better in a greenhouse than in the living room. When kept on the windowsill, it should be regularly sprayed or placed in a window tray filled with water, which locally increases the humidity as it evaporates. It should be watered thoroughly every seven days with lime-free tap water or rainwater. It hates waterlogging just as much as its other orchid sisters. To ensure strong growth in summer, orchid fertiliser should be added to the irrigation water about once a month. It does not need fertiliser in winter.
In the jungle, the shoots of Vanilla planifolia can grow up to 15 metres long, but do not be disappointed if it does not thrive as vigorously far from its natural environment. With optimal care, however, you can expect up to 1.5 metres of length growth per year.

Theoretically it is possible to harvest vanilla pods from your own plants. They are harvested unripe, dried and fermented, developing their black-brown colouring and their characteristic aroma, vanillin. However, growing pod-bearing plants is a particularly labour-intensive project. It requires years of cultivation in a greenhouse at high humidity and tropical temperatures, manual pollination of the flowers and harvest at exactly the right time.

But whether as a cultivated plant or a pretty windowsill resident: in your living room, Vanilla planifolia is an exotic collector's item you will enjoy for years.

Care tips & notes on the genus