Vanilla is also grown in the Netherlands for the first time, and that turns out not to be easy

Vanilla, the pod of a tropical orchid, has captivated us since the 19th century. Now the plant is also grown in the Netherlands for the first time, and that turns out to be quite a challenge.

There is hardly anyone who does not like the aroma of vanilla. Babies of mothers who have eaten vanilla will suck harder and drink more milk. For decades, this has been the reason for powdered baby milk manufacturers to add the flavour, which has confirmed roughly half of the population (the bottle-fed babies) in their love for the aroma. This practice was stopped in 2018, to reduce the taste difference with breast milk. But it should be clear, vanilla is irresistible. And scarce, and therefore expensive. Reason enough to even start growing it in the Netherlands, in the greenhouse.

Vanilla is a plant from tropical Central America and we have known it since the 16th century. Its triumph came more than three hundred years later. Until 1841 we flavored cakes and other delicacies with orange blossom water, with rose water, with lemon zest. Ten years later, the beacons had shifted: vanilla had become widely available and had supplanted the other scent-bringers.

A vanilla pod, many people say. Vanilla pod is better. It is the seed pod of an orchid from the rainforest of Central America. Its enchanting aroma has been known in Europe since its conquest by the Spaniards in 1520. Attempts to get the flower to produce pods failed; pollinating the flowers proved impossible without the insects from the jungle. They did try. The French in particular experimented with it in their colonies on the le Bourbon, Mauritius and Tahiti. In 1841, a 12-year-old boy, Edmond Albius, born into slavery, managed to fertilize the flowers. With a stick or stiff blade of grass he lifted the membrane separating the stamen from the pistil and quickly smeared some pollen on it with his thumb.

Everything by hand

‘That’s how we do it,’ says Bart van Meurs, innovation manager at Koppert Cress in Westland. “And it has to be done quickly, you only have a window of a few hours per flower to do it.” Koppert Cress has recently launched greenhouse-grown vanilla on the market, especially for the catering industry. The company has grown up growing tiny herbs as aromatic garnish for luxury restaurants and is constantly looking for new additions to the range.

Previous attempts to set up vanilla cultivation in the Netherlands, by Wageningen University in collaboration with the Hogeschool Leiden and the Hortus botanicus in that city, were terminated. There was hope to grow vanilla orchids on a larger scale, perhaps turning them into a kind of Dutch tomato cultivation. But the crop turned out to be too unpredictable for that in terms of flowering and disease susceptibility.

‘We conducted research from 2014 to 2018’, says Filip van Noort of WU. Together with Barbara Gravendeel, then from Hogeschool Leiden, he went to Costa Rica and La Réunion, where they looked at the conditions under which Vanilla planifolia, the most commonly used species, grows. The microbiome, the entirety of bacteria and fungi in the plant and the surrounding nutrient medium, had their particular attention. The orchid is dependent on it and that turned out to be the breaking point for cultivation in Dutch greenhouses. ‘Costa Rica forbids bringing a few cubic meters of soil from the jungle without an agreement on profit’, says Gravendeel.

‘It is indeed not easy’, says Van Meurs of Koppert Cress. ‘About eight years ago we started with the vanilla in our test greenhouse. It is a difficult plant, which can easily be attacked by fungi. We had to throw away a lot.’

Another objection to a larger-scale approach is the labour-intensive nature of the cultivation. ‘Everything has to be done by hand, the pollination and the harvest’, says Van Meurs. ‘In the three months that the plants can flower, they do that one by one. We go every morning to look. Sometimes there are five, sometimes a thousand. They must then be pollinated immediately. We have the people here to handle such fluctuations, we just get them from other parts of the business. However, we must also be careful not to pollinate everything; too many pods per plant makes them vulnerable to diseases.’

Tattooed Pods

So now it seems to work. But why even try to grow vanilla in the Netherlands if things are going well in the tropics? After all, it is a product that can be stored well and can be transported without refrigeration. In addition, the usual transport by boat poses few sustainability concerns.

The demand for vanilla is increasing worldwide. In recent years, China and Brazil have become enthusiasts. China itself is a producer, but the major suppliers are Madagascar, Indonesia and Mexico. Production and price fluctuate strongly over the years, partly as a result of the weather. In addition, there is crime; thieves loot vanilla plantations. Growers therefore give their ripening pods a pricked mark, like a tattoo without ink. Or they harvest the pods out of uncertainty before they are optimally ripe. Such lower quality is surely sold to companies with less high standards.

Demand is increasing, the price is (often) high. Madagascar recently suggested a minimum price of 250 dollars per kilo, which contains about 150 vanilla pods of the best quality. By the time the vanilla reaches the consumer, it has become at least 4 to 5 euros per pod (avoid the cheaper ones!). Koppert Cress’s will cost more. But yes, luxury restaurants, exclusivity, a nice story at the table.

long and shiny

Vanilla orchids are climbing plants. In addition to their ground roots, they have aerial roots and curly suture roots, like vines, with which they cling. They can grow to a length of 45 meters and thus become awkwardly far out of reach of the growers. They therefore bend the tops downwards from time to time; that also benefits flowering. At Koppert, each pod has a tiny label with the pollination date.

After harvest, just before the pods begin to split on their own to disperse their seeds, the metabolism is stopped by immersing them in hot water or freezing them briefly. The pods then ripen, usually densely packed under warm, humid conditions, turning from greenish-yellow to glossy brown-black. This is followed by drying and storage for six months to optimize the aroma. It is enzymes that cause that process.

One clearly distinguishes different qualities. Long, shiny moist pods are best and are referred to as ‘gourmet’ or ‘japonais’. Koppert is experimenting with allowing the plant to ripen longer. The splitting of the pod is prevented by dipping the end in beeswax.

The most cultivated is Vanilla planifolia or bourbon vanilla. Less available and with a distinctly different aroma profile is Vanilla tahitensis, from Tonga and Tahiti in the Pacific Ocean. Both (also the planifolia from Koppert Cress) are supplied to the consumer by Vanilla Venture via vvthuis.nl. The third kind, vanilla pumpkingrows on islands in the Caribbean and does not come our way.

real and fake

As early as 1874, German scientists managed to synthesize the main component of vanilla, vanillin, from the bark of pine trees. Today, much more artificial vanillin is used than real vanilla. ‘Food watchdog’ Food Watch won a case against FrieslandCampina in 2019 about their vanilla custard, which did not contain real vanilla. Since then, all major manufacturers label their products as ‘vanilla flavored’, or put the word vanilla in quotes. There is an international tendency to use more real vanilla. Major industries such as Nestlé and Unilever are increasingly ceasing to use imitation.

By the way, vanillin is sold in supermarkets as ‘vanilla essence’. Vanilla extract is alcohol with real vanilla. Real vanilla contained 171 fragrance components in the last study and is therefore much richer and more complex in aroma. To do justice to these, it seems better not to heat the preparation very strongly. The American magazine Cooks Illustrated in 2019 gave test subjects various preparations. In cookies they tasted no difference between vanilla and vanillin, in cake it did, and in colder things – ice cream! – secure. So the next time you buy vanilla ice cream, read the ingredients list carefully. Real vanilla just tastes better.