Vanilla
Vanilla planifolia
(Tulíp taps her spoon clink-clink against a wine tumbler.)
In this pueblo there is little interest to shut out the darker aspects of our experience. Suffering and misfortune are realized and abided. From galleries and cafes, panhandlers are never banished.
“Disabled vendors try to sell garbage and disfigured beggars are held to be harmless.”
There’s a peddler, a local fixture, who tours the central zocalo. He’s part of the routine scene in el centro downtown. He’s not especially sympathetic, never smiles to substitute for his fixed half-grimace, yet he’s tolerated. Some even buy his vanilla potion.
Tulíp says, “He’s a storied Papanteco volador with a storybook deformity and an accompanying story.”
Saffron sets about sampling, “Passing from the far side of the table is a Comoros vanilla bourbon-type ethanolic extract with a translucent amber complexion, projecting an ethereal heady headspace character of caramelized sugar, seeming to be a resonant and resemblant representation of oily moist quality fruits.”
In respect that I’m expected, I suspect, to play the skeptic … virtually all New World vanilla being sold is illegitimate, and the volador is likely hawking synthetic ethyl vanillin obtained from a petroleum feedstock reagent and added to a base of automotive antifreeze.
“He’s one of the Totonaca pole flyers from Papantla who would visit to perform the traditional danza de los voladores ceremony, in the City center, old-timers remember, how they would climb up and wrap rope around a thirty-meter pole, as one would play a flute and a drum from a capstan at the top, how they’d fall back and spin to enact something like a bungee-maypole group dance.”
He still wears that same costume, the red pants and white shirt with a sash across the chest and a hat with ribbons and flowers.
“To this day, once a year, to honor those visiting voladores, the municipalidad here will hire women to serve tamales estilo Veracruzano wrapped in banana leaves and seasoned with the piper hoja santa.”
The city that perfumed the World … Papantla, in Veracruz, on the Gulf Coast, once the hub of vanilla production, was known to be striking for the conspicuous fruit which, to unfold aromatically, would be laid out over hundreds of rooftops and patios. This practice continued until the early twentieth century when oil companies (petroleum, not perfume) arrived to drill, which undermined the regional way of life, setting off a procession of pollution and destruction, frequent fires and displacement. And the effect of the cascading effects furthered the cultural nosedive.
“In the course of a spinning demonstration, according to folk legend, the Totonacan vainilla salesman had a seizure and came detached from the rope and went flying into the adjacent church bell, actually ringing it (we choose to suspend our disbelief in this). He awoke after a week from a coma and has been spasmodically gesticulating ever since.”
The pueblito remembers the incident by annually ringing that bell, and afterwards serving free food.
Saffron says, “He sells an opaque solution in plastic bottles, derived from positively bona fide Papantlan xanat, he always insists. But we tested the murky black liquid on a lump of sugar against our in-house tincture and it came across as comparatively bracing and grassy, ethyl vanillin in propylene glycol we figured, with touches remindful of soaked straw and almonds, owing probably to added coumarin.”
He claims that local restauranteurs use his extract to flavor their postres y sodas y chocolates. I believe Tulíp has used it to stain old wood furniture.
“The following extract, the first from among this evening’s first flight, casts a nice showing light, on the Tahitian type, which happens to be set apart as heterospecific to most other kinds of vanilla in the commercial light — the oleoresin releases an indistinct burnt-toffee backnote — this syrupy absolue elicits reminiscences of alcohol spirits — the heliotropin lactones and anisic aldehydes evoke elements we correlate with stone fruits such as plums and cherries.”
Veering our line of inquiry…
Whereas … in the sixteenth century, vanilla vines from Mexico are transported far from home, to the Old World, it will be years before any flowers appear, albeit buds do eventually form in leaf axils, and do eventually open … only to then wilt and abscise after a few hours, since the devoted stingless black euglossine (Melipona) pollinating bees (abejas de monte) are still buzzing around Papantla … they didn’t make the trip. Much as the distinctive hermaphroditic orchid blossoms, with their orchidaceous anatomic barriers to prevent self-fertilization, are finally (1841) induced to give rise to fruit, still the evolvement of fragrance proves to take many months. And what’s more, new plants aren’t propagated because seeds aren’t given to germinate in the absence of a particular symbiotic mycorrhizal fungus … which was also left back around Veracruz, with the bees.
“The mystique of ambrosial vanilla in a patriarchal society and questions of its genuineness in a prosthetic culture invite consideration on account that the word vainilla is the diminutive of vaina meaning sheath or vagina,” I’m not sure what Tulíp intends by this.
And whereas … the matter is disputed, whether or not to confer credit for worldwide vanilla cultivation on a twelve-year-old black slave, still the established artificial-pollination trick is, by consensus, attributable to the Réunionnais child.
“Ah, this Malagasy dilution is a full-bodied embodiment of a bottom-feeding muck-dwelling being — yow, a leather-clad unwashed body dripping of castoreum — mmm, a lauraceous play-like spongy manful hay-like honeyed handful.”
To substitute for the coevolutionary fine-tuned reproductive event in Nature … first with a flick of a bamboo sliver, the hinged flap-like membrane (rostellum) is folded back … then with a thumb gesture, the sticky concave stigma is brushed with agglutinated pollen (pollinium) … then voilà, the ovules are fertilized. Up next, enzyme-mediated ovarian transformations of great interest.
“As it turns out, annual vanilla sales a century later will tally hundreds of millions of dollars. (It goes without saying, no point in explaining, yet we’ll say it anyway, that the dark-skinned kid inventor was down and out, in a bad way when he passed away),” Saffron voices what I want to say.
The latent vanilla aroma and flavor are realized upon the union of metabolites — bound vanillin among developing placentae and hydrolytic enzymes harbored in the outer fruit wall — that are separated until their time arrives. It’s an arrangement that has the principles subject to a controlled connection, like a brokered chemical courtship, then the molecular marriage.
“In the matter of Mexican tinctures, we endeavor to keep olfactively open-eyed, watchful for qualities that mark authenticity, like impressions that are determinably fresh, and that appear to be smooth in the sense that they’re notably mellowed, meaning that components are physically cohering and aesthetically teaming.”
This multiphase process of curing is similar to but more extravagant than those administered for tea or tobacco: the fruit follow an imposed progression beginning only after developing on the vine for many months, harvested at last but nonetheless still odorless, then subjected to a sequence of variations including steps of wilting to arrest respiration, which may in Mexico entail exposure to sun or to hot water by the Bourbon method, and then next, to facilitate so-called sweating, fruits are submitted to alternating daytime sunning with nighttime wrapped packing, then to months of drying in ambient temperatures, then more months of conditioning or prolonged aging in closed boxes.
“And we’re on guard for any phenolic redolence, harsh or burnt shades that may result from hurried operations by impatient farmers or producers in Asia … granting that our vigilance is complicated because, to hasten drying, Indonesians have customarily used wood fires, which impart a property of smokiness to the beans.”
Shifting our course of investigation…
To construct a perfume scented of vanilla, one would incorporate vanilla essential oil? no, doesn’t exist. Vanilla resinoid? like the aforementioned, no such thing. The concrète? not strictly so. The oleoresin? so called, but not exactly.
“Technical.”
Solvent extraction of the vanilla fragrance is carried out with alcohol that’s relatively aqueous (to fifty percent), so consequently, purified extractive materials aren’t necessarily soluble in high-proof ethanol for perfumery.
“Confusing.”
Following the procedure of solubly drawing out principles from the fruit, resinous substances are then selectively removed to yield a varied menu of refined vanilla products.
“Overmuch.”
The fruit is a bean pod? no, it’s not a legume. A capsule? no, it’s not considered a dry fruit. A berry? no, since it dehisces. So then, what?
“Jargonistic.”
The scores of microscopic seeds are surely wind-dispersed? no, they become fleshy and fragrant to encourage late-night feeding visits by bats.
Get A.S. Reisfield’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
“Questionable.”
In Nature, unmolested ovary (fruit) walls break down in due course, the decomposing pulp enjoyed by animals, of course, after which the seeds pass through their systems as a matter of course.
“Inconsequential.”
Given that it is prohibitive under natural circumstances to gather up and concentrate the aromatic metabolites, the managed operation of vanilla curing might be viewed as an exercise in control.
“Tedious.”
In terms of chemistry, vanillin is regarded as an aldehyde? agreed. Not an ether? that too. Not a phenol? yes, all three. Say, a phenolic aldehyde?
“Involved.”
The vapory balm bestows a soothing, relaxing effect? no, perfume psychologists often associate the activity of vanilla with spicy exhilarating principles such as eugenol and cinnamic aldehyde.
“Conjectural.”
Compounds that exhibit corresponding properties of scent are frequently related developmentally, and show up together as constellations within plants, the pathways of their biosynthesis in place and readily modified to yield variations on a theme.
“Esoteric.”
The guided metabolic reactions may be interrupted or unfinished, reversed or changed, as all the reactants and products, the precursors and intermediates and other chemical affiliates follow fluxing schedules to realize their concerted roles.
“Complicated.”
The fragrance of vanilla is depicted as tonka-like while that of tonka bean is depicted as vanilla-like.
“Tangled into a circular knot.”
We attribute to vanilla the olfactive quality that goes by the designation balsamic, defined by the association with warm rounded honey-sweet aroma aspects, for example those elicited by benzoin resinoid and esters of cinnamic and benzoic acids.
“But the molecule vanillin occurs naturally as a component of benzoin,” Saffron anticipates our next query into a circularity apparently of causes and consequences.
Is vanillin added to augment the sweetness of confections? or is vanillin sweet by its association with vanillic confections? In the matter of interchangeable premises and propositions, we detail some facets of vanilla, namely those of an emission that’s chocolate-toned (vanillin is a flavoring agent added to cocoa) and accented by a tobacco note (vanillin is an additive in cigarettes) and a vinous spotlight (it seeps into wine from the oak barrels) underscored by an ice-creamy quality (vanillin is in ice cream) and a caramelic feature (it’s commonly added to desserts such as flan) linked to a coffee nuance (and found in espresso due to heat-driven reactions) embellished by a buttery reference (in butter too) and recollections of Shalimar or Opium (those contain lots of ethyl vanillin).
“As it happens, the color sky-blue is the color of the blue sky.”
Finally, concerning the grand makeover of Life…
Presently we lift a toast to … the people the plant the product and the place … to the few campesinos in Papantla who still hang on to grow vanilla. But the rich historic association has been blemished by counterfeiters, especially those who doctor their phony extracts with coumarin, which has been publicly linked to liver damage.
“It’s a crude manner to delude, a third-world kind of ruse, a common flim-flam in Veracruz.”
Most Industry subterfuge is more sophisticated, covering a range of strategies … some tricks are wink-of-the-eye commonplace, some are awaiting as a surprise … some shenanigans are widely performed, some are rarely or yet to be executed … some hoodwinking practices are infamous, some are hush-hush insider secrets … some sleights are sneaky, some obvious … some knockoffs are benign, some disagreeable, some dangerous.
Regarding the history of abounding dupery, it is not trivial or off topic to point up the cost of production, and that an authentic botanical extract is more expensive than its synthetic counterpart by a factor of one thousand.
“The genuine is deep and complex and nuanced and sweet and balanced and balsamic and flowery and fruity and creamy and chocolatey and rummy and woody.”
It began during the late nineteenth century, the laboratory succession of reducing vanilla by way of forging vanillin, the volatile constituent most plentiful and sensorily distinguishing (of over two hundred other compounds that also emanate from ripe fruits). An early feedstock was eugenol from cloves. Later, coniferin from lignin in wood was sourced from the black-liquor byproduct of sulfite paper processing. (Seasoned buyers know to look out for white vanillin from lignin, mindful that it is sometimes covertly colored to match the preferred cream-hued version from eugenol.)
“Fraud characterizes the world of vanilla, on every corner, in every quarter — ”
After a time, the petrochemical route became favored by Industry, particularly to synthesize the penetrating ethyl vanillin that is triple the intensity of methyl vanillin. Whereas the superintended series of reactions might instructively be referenced as derived ex benzene ex coal tar, chemists speak instead of the guiacol pathway, for the benign sound of it, we presume.
“…defrauding at any opportunity, from whichever angle, on every level, through whatever channel.”
Of all vanilla transactions registered, ninety-sevenish percent are made up of trade in materials produced in human (not plant) plants. Investigators publish monthly on new methods of vanillin production, on diverse routes of assembly, often including some process of bio-fermentation, perhaps carried out by genetically manipulated microorganisms, say by way of lignin, involving ferulic acid, from recovered crop residues, as from corn, or sugar beets, or rice bran. These are considered green technologies, as the new faces of environmentalism.
“In Japan they have advanced a track of vanillin synthesis by way of cow dung.”
Many dozens of patents (at this writing, nearly a hundred) have been registered for new and newer, clever and cleverer schemes to replace the vanillas of Living Nature with engineered renditions more suited for trade in a world being reduced and diminished in the restricted image of humanity.
“Coca-Cola? — it caused the global marketplace for real vanilla extract to crash when the big buyer temporarily switched away from Classic, since its replacement New Coke called only for synthetic vanillin.”
In any event, the grades and types of legitimate vanilla materials are many.
“French vanilla? — no, it doesn’t add to the biocultural diversity. Rather, it’s a style of custard-based ice cream, mostly flavored with artificial vanillin. Those tiny black seeds suggesting authenticity are procured from cheap residues of alcohol extraction that are marketed to food companies under the term exhausted bean specks.”
Crediting the stronger flavor of their preference to the impurity known as acetovanillone, flavor concerns have conventionally favored vanillin made from lignin over that made from petroleum. And there’s been some intrigue around their efforts to spot the latter as an adulterant of the former.
“Counterfeiters are consistently one step ahead.”
Hot vanilla? — checking for radioactivity is another of a number of technical means employed by molecular sleuths —
“On the order of a sleuthhound, detective work is sometimes referred to as smelling around.”
…specified as isotope ratio analysis, the technique is practicable because our atmosphere, on account of cosmic radiation, contains some radioactive carbon, which finds its way into living plant tissue during photosynthesis. However, the marker never became incorporated into the soupy fossilized plants long ago decayed. Therefore, an absence of unstable carbon reveals derivation from petroleum — clever, no? Alas, crafty chemists know to dose the unstable isotope into guaiacol vanillin to simulate the radioactivity of the natural.
Tulíp concludes, “I’m not intrigued or amused by the ruse, as intriguing or amusing as a date rape.”
