Vanilla Fragrances

Vanilla, long known to the Indians of Central America, came to conquer the hearts of gourmets around the world with cocoa during the discovery of America and the New World. The Mayans, and later the Aztecs, called vanilla tlilxochitl and used it primarily for their royal chocolate drinks. Europeans discovered and loved vanilla in the 17th century. They used it as a remedy for many diseases and, because of its smell and taste, as an additive to food and drink. Vanilla was, for good reason, considered a powerful aphrodisiac. Today everyone knows the smell and taste of vanilla, but especially synthetic, because real vanilla extract is very expensive and its production unprofitable for producers. The scent of vanilla consists of several components, the main ones of which are vanillin and piperonal heliotropin. Vanilla is a climbing plant, a kind of orchid, of which the world's most popular variant, Vanilla planifolia, originates from Mexico. There are about a hundred variations of this plant, but only two are used in wide commercial production due to its taste and smell: Vanilla planifolia and Vanilla tahitiensis. Vanilla planifolia grows today in tropical climates, in Mexico and South America, in the Caribbean, in the islands of the Indian Ocean, in Indonesia The vanilla that grows in Mexico is considered one of the best, of the fact that it grows in its country of origin. , however, the production is not great. Bourbon vanilla comes from Madagascar, an island in the Indian Ocean, considered the largest producer of vanilla since it produces 1, 000 tonnes of pods per year, from the Comoros and Reunion. The same variant is cultivated in Africa and Indonesia. It takes its name from the old name of Reunion Island, Bourbon, name given in honor of the royal house. Bourbon vanilla is the same Vanilla planifolia, but the new and different production conditions affect the quality of taste and smell in every way. Bourbon vanilla has a rich fragrance and taste. This type of vanilla is used for the production of natural vanillin produced by pods in the form of crystals, during the drying process. The production of natural vanillin is a long and expensive process. Vanilla pods form and grow from the beautiful green-yellow and yellow vanilla flowers. Under natural conditions, the flowers are pollinated by insects and hummingbirds, but in plantations this is done manually. The green pods remain on the branches for 8-9 months and after picking they are dried for another six months. During the drying process, they produce white crystals - vanillin. Tahitian vanilla grows in the islands of French Polynesia Tahiti and is a rarer and more expensive variant. Its taste is considered sweeter than that of Vanilla planifolia, but the smell is stronger. It contains less vanillin and more heliotropin, which gives a fruity undertone. The French vanilla that can be found among the components of perfumes is not a particular vanilla, but a kind of quality label of its taste and its fragrance as real identical to natural vanilla as it is intense. The name comes from a French ice cream recipe.