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The vanilla bean belongs to an orchid plant that is native to Central America. Today most vanilla beans are produced in Madagascar and Mexico. Vanilla is a widely known for its rich flavor and fragrance but the unique process by which it is cultivated is not widely known. In its native environment insects provide natural pollination of the vanilla flower but it took 300 years to develop a method of hand-pollination. Today hand-pollination is even used in Mexico to increase production. After the bean in mature, the deeply rich, sweet, creamy, and slightly woody aroma of vanilla is ultimately achieved after several months of curing the beans. |
