Forget Plain Vanilla: You’ll Never See The World’s Favorite Flavor the Same Way Again

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Today, it's a byword for boring, and yet the edible seedpod of this Central American orchid is one of the most expensive spices in the world, not to mention one of the most popular flavors globally. So how did this coveted bean get such a ho-hum reputation? Listen in this episode as Gastropod travels to vanilla's homeland in the highlands of Veracruz, Mexico, to investigate. It's a tale of botanical piracy, beaver butts, and ice-cream barges, in which an ingenious enslaved tween and the product of pulp paper waste combine to transform vanilla from a complex and sophisticated elite treat into the single-note synonym for dull. Plus, we meet the thrilling alternative vanillas we're all missing out on, and serve up the recipe for a vanilla tasting party that's guaranteed to make you fall back in love with the world's favorite flavor. You'll never see vanilla as plain again!

Dried vanilla pods from Luis' farm. (Photo by Cynthia Graber)

Episode Notes

Eric Jennings

Eric Jennings is a professor of history at the University of Toronto, where he studies French colonial history. He's the author of the book Vanilla: The History of an Extraordinary Bean.

Rebeca Alicia Menchaca García

Rebeca Alicia Menchaca García directs the vanilla research at the University of Veracruz, where she is the coordinator of the university's Orchidary.

A vanilla orchid flower. This flower comes from the species Vanilla pompona. (Photo by Cynthia Graber)
Vanilla orchid vines at the gene bank in Xalapa, Veracuz, where researchers are studying how different varieties and species might help vanilla become more resilient to disease and climate change. (Photos by Cynthia Graber)

Miguel Angel Lozano Rodríguez

Miguel Angel Lozano Rodríguez is a researcher at the University of Veracruz, in Mexico, working on Mexican vanilla conservation and orchid propagation.

Araceli Pérez Silvia

A vanilla researcher at the National Technological Institute of Mexico in Oaxaca, Araceli Pérez Silvia's work includes the VaniClim project, studying how to adapt vanilla to climate change.

Luis Mora

Luis Mora is a vanilla farmer in Veracruz.

Miguel doing his best bee impression and painstakingly pollinating a vanilla flower. (Photos by Cynthia Graber)

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for the Public Understanding of Science, Technology, and Economics

This episode of Gastropod was supported by a generous grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for the Public Understanding of Science, Technology, and Economics. Check out the other books, movies, shows, podcasts, and more that they support here.