Vanilla Planifolia

The vanilla plant, which belongs to the

orchid family. The fruit is used by confectioners and others for

flavoring creams, liquors, and chocolates. There are several

species, but this gives the finest fruit. It is a climbing orchid,

and is allowed to climb on trees when cultivated for its fruit. In

Mexico, from whence is procured a large portion of the fruit, it

is cultivated in certain favorable localities near the Gulf coast,

where the climate is warm. Much of the value of the bean depends

upon the process of its preparation for the market. In Mexico,

where much care is given to this process, the pods are gathered

before they are fully ripe and placed in a heap, under protection

from the weather, until they begin to shrivel, when they are

submitted to a sweating process by wrapping them in blankets

inclosed in tight boxes; afterwards they are exposed to the sun.

They are then tied into bundles or small bales, which are first

wrapped in woolen blankets, then in a coating of banana leaves

first sprinkled with water, then placed in an oven heated up to

about 140 deg. F. Here they remain for twenty-four to forty-eight

hours, according to the size of the pods, the largest requiring

the longest time. After this heating they are exposed to the sun

daily for fifty or sixty days, until they are thoroughly dried and

ready for the market.