Mexican vanilla is cultivated in Veracruz, Mexico, and is the product of an orchid that gives birth to the vanilla flower after pollination.
The vanilla is harvested after the flower dies, usually around nine months, and then the green pod is cut from the plant. The pod allowed to dry for 20 days, then undergoes a fermentation process.
�After 20 days of drying, the vanilla pods are placed in wooden boxes and covered with palm rugs, to ripen them to finally place them in vacuum packaging, and thus preserve their notes and their flavor,�
In the Pacific Ocean, there is an island in Tahiti that is referred to as �Vanilla Island.� It got its name because 80 percent of the country�s vanilla is produced there.
Tahitian Vanilla (Vanilla tahitensis) is a natural hybrid between two vanilla species: Vanilla planifolia, better known as bourbon vanilla, and Vanilla odorata, a very rare vanilla found in the forests of Belize and Guatemala. �It represents only 1 percent of the global production of vanilla,� says Thibault Uzeel, Assistant Food and Beverages Manager for Pearl Resorts of Tahiti.
Also called bourbon vanilla, Madagascan vanilla comes from the same plant and has the same basic flavor notes as Mexican vanilla. The only significant difference is that in Mexico, the plant is pollinated by a bee and in Madagascar, humans need to pollinate the flower, leading to its higher price. (And despite the name, it is not actually made with bourbon whiskey; instead, �Bourbon� refers to a place where this vanilla was grown.)
