Dining
Dining
Blossom to Bean by Rosanna Mignacca
Exotic, exciting, expensive and rare. Vanilla? Who knew that the ubiquitous amber-colored bottle found in every kitchen cupboard evolved from a stormy past and equally fascinating journey.
It starts out innocently enough, with a lovely celadon-colored, tropical climbing orchid. But Vanilla planifolia is no ordinary orchid. Among over 20,000 different species of or chids, only the vanilla orchid bears an edible fruit, prized for its sensual flavor and suave fragrance. Vanilla’s journey began in Mexico with the Totonaco Indians, first guar dians of this secret spice. They believed vanilla to be a gift from the gods, a product of the souls of starcrossed lovers, god and mortal, whose sacred blood marked the spot where the climbing vine and beautiful flow e r first grew. Later
72 Nights
defeated by the Aztecs, the Totonaco appeased them by relinquishing their exotic vanilla pods. When Cortez arrived in the early 1500s, he observed the Aztec Em peror Montezuma drinking chocolatl, made of vanilla beans, cocoa, corn and honey, from a golden goblet. After conquering the Aztecs, Cortez returned to Spain with his plunder, introducing both cocoa and vanilla in the form of chocolatl. For almost a century, only the rich or royalty enjoyed this sweet drink. In the ear ly 1600s, an apothecary to Queen Elizabeth I suggested using vanilla on its own as a flavoring. E
Background photo Sergei Didok. Inset photo by Kschrei / Shutterstock
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