What is vanilla?

Vanilla comes from the vanilla orchid plant (Vanilla planifolia). Originally, this plant was found in Mexico, but it is now grown in several countries. The largest producer of vanilla is Madagascar, which accounts for half of world production, followed by Indonesia and China. We get our high quality vanilla from Sri Lanka, which is different from other varieties.

The word vanilla comes from the French and means "little sheath". In Sweden, we borrowed the word from the French in 1773. The French, in turn, got the word from the Spanish, where it is called vainilla. The Spanish created their diminutive word from vaina, which refers to the shape of the seed capsule and means "sheath, sheath, casing".

The vanilla orchid was already cultivated before the colonization by the Aztecs. The plant is a climbing plant that can grow 3–15 meters high and grows naturally in forests or cultivated on plantations. Its flowers are yellow-green and pollinated either naturally or artificially. The flowers develop a fruit capsule containing small black seeds.

Since the fruit must be harvested when it is green and unripe, it must undergo a process. It is prepared by being placed in a moist and hot oven and then dried in the sun to produce the characteristic taste. Vanilla fruits have been used as a spice in sweets and as a fragrance in perfumes. Because of the labor-intensive handling, vanilla is the second most expensive spice in the world after saffron.

In the case of vanilla powder, vanilla bean and vanilla sugar:

Vanilla powder is made by grinding the vanilla beans into a powder, which is much easier to use than a whole vanilla bean. Although we usually associate vanilla with something white, both the vanilla beans and the vanilla powder are black or dark brown.

The difference between vanilla powder and what is called vanilla sugar or vanillin sugar is that the vanilla powder does not contain sugar. In many recipes, you can replace vanilla sugar with vanilla powder, and you don't need to use as much of it.