Vanilla (spice)
The vanilla ( pronunciation : [ vanɪljə ], and [ vanɪlə ]; in Austria : [ vanɪlɛ ]) is a spice obtained from the fermented fruit capsules of various ( "pods") species of orchids genus of vanilla is obtained. The name comes from the French vanilla [ va'nɪːj ] from the Spanish vainilla ( Castellan [ baiˈniʎa ], Latin American-Spanish [ baiˈniɟ͡ʝa ]; "small pod or pod"). Vanilla in stick form is also known as the queen of spices .
Types and distribution
The genus Vanilla belongs to the orchids and comprises around 120 species, 15 of which provide aromatic capsules, which are commonly referred to as vanilla pods. However, only three species are grown commercially. The most important type for the production of vanilla pods is the spiced vanilla ( Vanilla planifolia ), from which about 95 percent of the worldwide production comes. The spiced vanilla originally comes from Mexico and Central America , but is now mainly grown on Madagascar , Réunion (formerly called Île Bourbon and hence the origin of the name Bourbon vanilla ) and other islands in the Indian Ocean . Spiced vanilla is sold under the names Bourbon Vanilla and Mexican Vanilla. Besides the spiced vanilla, only the Tahitian vanilla ( Vanilla tahitensis ) and the Guadeloupe vanilla ( Vanilla pompona ) are of commercial importance. Tahitian vanilla is grown in the South Pacific . It is a close relative of the spiced vanilla, but differs from it in its aroma. Tahitian vanilla contains less vanillin , but higher levels of other aromatic substances that give the pods a flowery aroma; it is mainly used in upscale gastronomy. The Guadeloupe vanilla originates from Central and South America and is now grown commercially in the West Indies . It has similar aromatic properties as Tahitian vanilla and is primarily used in perfume production.
history
As cacixanatl (Aztec, roughly: "deep flower"), vanilla was valued in Mexico long before the arrival of Europeans. In a chronicle of the Aztec ruler Itzcóatl it is reported that the Totonaks who were subjected by him had to deliver part of their tribute in vanilla. For a long time, the Totonaks were the only people who knew about vanilla cultivation. The legend of vanilla goes back to them, according to which the liana-like climbing plant emerged from a killed Totonak princess. The Veracruz region on the Gulf of Mexico is still considered the cradle of vanilla today.
Vanilla was often enjoyed in conjunction with cocoa , which rounds off its bitter pungent taste. Of Montezuma II. Is said to have consumed about fifty daily cups of cocoa and vanilla cocktails. The first European to try it was probably his "guest" Hernán Cortés .
After that, it took decades for vanilla to become common in Spain and then the rest of Europe. It remained a treat for the rich and Spain guarded its monopoly: the illegal export of the vanilla plant was followed by the death penalty.
It was only after Mexico's independence (1810) that cuttings found their way into the botanical gardens of Antwerp and Paris. In 1819 the Dutch began to cultivate the plant in their colonies on Java . In 1822 the French brought them to La Réunion (then: Île Bourbon - hence the name Bourbon vanilla ). The pollination of the flower had to be done artificially in the new cultivation countries (see the article Spiced Vanilla ), since the natural pollinators native to Mexico, such as the hummingbird , did not exist on La Réunion.
Natural vanilla remained valuable even after Haarmann and Tiemann succeeded in synthesizing vanillin (from coniferin ) in Holzminden , Germany in 1874 .
Since the beginning of the 20th century, the focus of the production of Bourbon vanilla shifted from Réunion to the Sava region in northeast Madagascar . Madagascar and Indonesia are the main producing countries today.
Cultivation, processing, sales
Vanilla plants are grown in plantations. The up to 30 cm long vanilla pods - botanically correct, they are capsule fruits and not pods - are harvested shortly before ripening when they are yellow-green. The fresh fruits do not yet have the typical aroma and taste of the finished product. In order to obtain vanilla as a highly aromatic spice, the fruits first have to undergo what is known as black browning , a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. First, the capsule fruits are treated with hot water or steam. This is followed by fermentation in airtight containers until fine glucose needles crystallize out . This process can take up to four weeks. The drying and fermentation processes transform the precursors of vanillin into vanillin , the main aroma of vanilla. At the same time, the fruit capsules shrink into the well-known, shiny black-brown vanilla sticks, the actual spice. For transport, the vanilla sticks are bundled, wrapped in parchment paper and placed in pewter containers.
In addition to the artificial pollination, the complex processing process is the reason for the high price of the spiced vanilla. Only those pods that are free of defects are sold as vanilla pods. Split or broken pods are industrially processed either into vanilla sugar or, after macerating in alcohol, into liquid extracts.
The world market price for vanilla is subject to strong fluctuations. For example, according to Zeit Online, 1 kg of Madagascan vanilla paid an average of 140 US dollars in 2000 , while the price had fallen to 40 US dollars in 2005. However, this kilogram price has only a little to do with the end customer price, which is not billed according to weight, but mostly per pod.
Due to poor harvests and speculation on the market, the purchase prices for vanilla from Madagascar in 2016 were over 400 euros per kg (193 $ / lb. ).
Use in the kitchen
Use of vanilla pods
The oily liquid surrounding the seeds within the capsule contains a large proportion of the aroma and taste. This is the reason why you should cut the fruit lengthways and scrape out the seeds along with the adhering oil, the vanilla pulp , for a particularly intense flavoring of the food . However, the main flavor carrier is the “pod” (capsule shell) itself. The flavoring substances it contains can be obtained by boiling in milk, cream or other liquids. B. can be used for the preparation of a vanilla sauce . The washed and dried fruit can be used several times.
To flavor sugar, it is sufficient to store it together with a vanilla stick in an airtight glass for a few weeks. The glass should be shaken from time to time to mix.
Food that is seasoned with vanilla
Vanilla is traditionally used to flavor cocoa and chocolate . This usage was already known to the Aztecs and Incas. Their use expanded very quickly in Europe. Elizabeth I already loved desserts flavored with vanilla. Desserts such as puddings and creams (e.g. crème brûlée , vanilla cream and Bavarian cream ) as well as a wide variety of pastries, fruit desserts and, since the 19th century, ice cream have been developed. Because of this application, vanilla is of great importance for the food industry . Coca-Cola is still the largest customer , after the replacement of real vanilla in cola with synthetic vanillin failed in 1985 due to consumer resistance.
The modern kitchen of the late 20th century expanded its use. With its extreme mildness, vanilla also harmonizes with white meat or fish and gives lobster and salmon dishes , for example, a subtle and delicate note. French top chefs such as Alain Passard season tomato salad with raspberry vinegar and olive oil , in which half a sliced vanilla pod macerated for a long time .
Origin and quality characteristics of vanilla sticks
Depending on the country of origin and producer, there are considerable differences in quality regardless of which type of vanilla is grown. The Bourbon vanilla grown in Africa ( Madagascar , La Réunion , Mauritius and the Comoros ) is the most popular variety among Europeans due to its intense and harmonious aroma . In contrast, prefer Americans the Mexican vanilla, the sweet, subtle and softer. Vanilla from Tahiti ( Vanilla tahitensis ) and from the West Indies ( Vanilla pompona ) stand out due to their strong flower-like scent and contain less vanillin. They are widely used in the cosmetics industry. Finally, Indonesian vanilla is mainly used in the perfume and spirits industry because of its woody and smoky aroma .
Regardless of the variety, a vanilla stick should be elastic, leather-like in texture, under no circumstances hard and dry. Exuding vanilla crystals is a quality feature; it is occasionally mimicked by spraying synthetic vanilla crystals on the pod. Such synthetic crystals can be recognized by their completely even distribution over the whole pod, while natural crystals are unevenly distributed.
Vanilla products
Vanilla extract
Vanilla extract, also known as vanilla essence, is a pungent-tasting liquid extract of vanilla with about 35% ethanol and sometimes a little sugar syrup . Pure vanilla extract, if labeled as such, must always be extracted from real vanilla pods. It contains the aromas of vanilla in a highly concentrated form and has a practically unlimited shelf life.
Vanilla extract is mainly used in industrial food production. The manufacturers of vanilla extract use vanilla pods of different origins and quality in order to achieve consistent quality and to meet specific requirements. In addition to bourbon vanilla, vanilla ice cream also contains other, stricter types of vanilla as flavor carriers.
Vanilla powder
The term vanilla powder refers to the ground vanilla seeds. Vanilla powder can be used as an alternative to vanilla pods in the home. However, due to the technical extraction process, it often contains little or no vanilla flavor and is then only used to create the well-known "black points" in products with "real vanilla".
Ground vanilla, in which the capsule shells are also ground, is often much more aromatic than the vanilla powder from the seeds.
Substitutes
The main flavoring substance vanillin can be produced synthetically or biosynthetically using different processes . It should be noted that vanillin can also be labeled as a " natural aroma " if it was produced by bacteria. Vanillin made from inexpensive raw materials, but also other flavorings (e.g. ethyl vanillin , piperonal ) have largely displaced real vanilla in parts of the food industry. The use of real vanilla is suggested to the consumer through non-transparent, misleading, sometimes incorrect labeling and the processing of ground pod remains, which visually resemble the valuable pulp.
Economical meaning
World production
In 2017, a total of 8,142 t of vanilla was produced worldwide. 44% of the vanilla was produced in Asia, 40.5% in Africa, 8.9% in Oceania and 6.6% in America.
| rank | country | Production (in t ) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 Madagascar
|
3,227 |
| 2 |
 Indonesia
|
2,402 |
| 3 |
 People's Republic of China
|
662 |
| 4th |
 Mexico
|
515 |
| 5 |
 Papua New Guinea
|
499 |
| 6th |
 Turkey
|
318 |
| 7th |
 Uganda
|
214 |
| 8th |
 Tonga
|
181 |
| 9 |
 French Polynesia
|
36 |
| 10 |
 Malawi
|
20th |
| worldwide | 8,142 |
useful information
In some areas of Austria , garlic used to be referred to as the “poor man's vanilla” because the real vanilla was only accessible to the top layers because of its price. The so-called vanilla roast that was created at that time and which has developed into a standard dish in Viennese beef cuisine that is still widespread today is therefore, contrary to its name, not prepared with vanilla but with garlic.
The manufacturers of the products flavored with vanillin or real vanilla suggest that vanilla is yellow. However, the yellowish color of the products is due to artificially added food colors (usually carotenes ). Classic vanilla dishes are often yellow only because they contain a lot of hen's eggs , not because of the vanilla itself. In addition, the assignment of the color light yellow comes from the vanilla blossom, which has this shade.
See also
literature
- Annemarie Wildeisen : Vanilla, spice of the goddess. AT Verlag, Aarau 2001, ISBN 3-85502-751-X .
- Tim Ecott: Vanilla - Travels in Search of the Luscious Substance. Penguin Books, London 2004, ISBN 0-8021-1775-9 .
- Katja Chmelik: Vanilla - The black queen. History 3/2007, ISSN 1617-9412 , pp. 56-57.
- Elisabeth Vaupel : Spices - Eight cultural and historical treasures. Deutsches Museum, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-924183-85-6 .
Web links
- Vanilla, spice and herb primer, Ernesto Pauli
- Gernot Katzer's spice pages: vanilla
- Further information on vanilla
Individual evidence
- ↑ duden.de
- ↑ Austrian dictionary . 35th edition. Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna 1979, ISBN 3-215-02615-5 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g Jelka Lerche: The queen of spices. Vanilla is versatile, unique, expensive - and difficult to grow. In: Die Zeit , No. 53 of December 18, 2019, p. 42.
- ↑ a b P. Besse, D. Da Silva, S. Bary, M. Grisoni, F. Le Bellec, MF. Duval: RAPD genetic diversity in cultivated vanilla: Vanilla planifolia, and relationships with V. tahitensis and V. pompona , in: Plant Science , 2004 , 167 (2) , pp. 379-385.
- ↑ Vanilla bean shortage in Madagascar drives up prices in US , CBS News , February 14, 2017 (table of price trends 2011–2016).
- ↑ http://www.manager-magazin.de/lifestyle/genuss/a-627333.html
- ↑ https://www.laves.niedersachsen.de/startseite/lebensmittel/lebensmittelgruppen/milch_milcherzeugnisse/echte-vanille-im-vanilleeis-154606.html
- ↑ No trace of vanilla. In: sueddeutsche.de. May 17, 2010, accessed April 22, 2018 .
- ↑ https://www.laves.niedersachsen.de/startseite/lebensmittel/lebensmittelgruppen/gewuerze_aromen/vanille-und-vanillearomen-119098.html
- ↑ Statistics from FAO 2018, UN Agricultural Organization, accessed on November 4, 2019.