The Vanilla-Bean is the fruit of the _Vanilla planifolia_ or flat-leaved
Vanilla vine and is the source from which pure or true Vanilla Extract
is made. This climbing perennial belongs to the Orchid family and is
indigenous to Central and South America, but reaches its perfection of
flavor in Mexico. The Mexican bean sometimes attains a length of ten
inches.
[Illustration: One of the Extract Stills]
When gathered, the beans are yellowish green, fleshy and without odor.
Their color and odor is developed by a process of fermentation or
sweating, which differs in various countries. The best method consists
of sun-drying for about a month, the beans being pressed alternately
between the folds of blankets and exposed to the air. After curing they
are tied in bundles. Vanilla-Beans when cured exude and become covered
with fine frostlike crystals of vanillin, the important active flavoring
principle.
Next in value to the Mexican bean comes the Bourbon, which term is
applied to all the Vanilla-Beans grown in the islands of the Indian
Ocean, off the east coast of Africa, of which Madagascar, Réunion, the
Comores, Mauritius and the Seychelles are most important. These beans
are shorter than the Mexican, decidedly inferior in flavoring quality,
and, therefore, less expensive. They more nearly resemble the Tonka bean
in odor. The cheapest beans are the Tahitis and so-called vanillons or
beans of the wild Vanilla (_Vanilla pompona_). They are little used in
extract making, and properly so, as they have neither strength nor
flavor.
The Tonka bean is here mentioned simply because it is so largely used in
the manufacture of imitation Vanilla Extracts. It is the seed of the
_Dipterix odorata_, native to Guiana. The pod is almond shaped and
contains a single seed shaped like a kidney-bean. This bean is dark in
color, having a thin, shiny, brittle skin, containing a two-lobed oily
kernel. A hundred years ago these beans were found in the snuffbox of
every gentleman and in the handkerchief case of every lady.
Further information regarding the Vanilla-Bean may be found under
Flavoring Extracts on page 22.
[Illustration: (Tea)]
Chinese Tea Plant and Flowers
Chinese Tea Leaf
Japanese Tea Leaf
Ceylon Tea Leaf
India Tea Leaf
Seeds
Natural size