Veracruz Vanilla

Vanilla is Mexico’s gift to the world—the only edible fruit of the orchid, and first cultivated by the Totonacs of Veracruz. They considered it sacred, using it in rituals, medicine, and perfume. The Aztecs later combined it with chocolate in a ceremonial drink called Xocohotl, which so impressed Hernán Cortés that he brought vanilla to Spain.

For centuries, vanilla was a luxury reserved for European royalty. Though transplanted to other tropical regions, the orchid never bore fruit—until 1836, when a French botanist discovered the secret: pollination by a tiny stingless Melipona bee, native only to Mexico.

Nowadays, vanilla is grown worldwide, but only through hand pollination. True Mexican planifolia vanilla, especially from Veracruz, remains prized for its deep, rich, smokey flavor.

The process is painstaking: it takes  up to 18 months for a vine to flower, and the bloom lasts just one morning. Once pollinated, the pod matures for nine months and then is harvested. It undergoes a lengthy curing process involving sun-drying and sweating from where the 250+ flavor compounds emerge.

This labor-intensive journey makes vanilla the world’s second most expensive spice—yet none rivals the authenticity of Mexican vanilla, the original and still the finest.

Consequently, nearly 90 percent of the vanilla flavoring sold in the North America is not from the vanilla plant, but was made from chemicals.

The vanilla we offer is grown near Papantla, Veracruz, in the Mexican mountains on a family farm called Consecha Totonaca. They adhere to traditional growing and processing of the planifolia vanilla plants. 

We know that once you taste true vanilla, you will want more.