Vanilla comes from an orchid, and almost every pod is pollinated by hand.
Outside Mexico, the vanilla orchid has no natural pollinator, so each flower must be pollinated manually on the single day it opens. The method used today was worked out in 1841 by Edmond Albius, a 12-year-old enslaved boy on the island of Réunion.
Why is this true?
Hand pollination, months of curing and a flower that blooms for one morning make vanilla one of the most expensive spices in the world. Most vanilla flavouring is therefore synthetic vanillin.
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