The word vanilla conjures up images of romance, happiness,and a sense of well being.

Vanilla is more than extracts and beans. It has nearly magical properties, and in addition to flavoring foods and beverages, it can calm nerves, assist weight loss, lift spirits, and enhance romance.  Vanilla has been used historically as the rejuvenative and aphrodisiac spice.  Vanilla is natural flavouring romantic agent and is often used in hydroalcoholic mixtures.  Vanilla is often described as the NECTAR OF GODS.  Vanilla is the only orchid that can produce edible fruits.

Vanilla is an orchid and grows in the wild in Mexico and is popular in South America.  However, commercial cultivation of vanilla beans requires great care and is labour intensive.  Manual pollination is required for cultivating vanilla.  Once the flower is pollinated it sheds giving rise to the vanilla bean.  The seedpod is plucked and dried for several days and then graded (A,B etc…).  This dried bean is checked for various parameters and then ready for the next stage of making the extract or packaging and sending it for exports.  These numerous steps in cultivation and processing along with the controlled atmosphere required makes vanilla one of the most expensive spices.

Vanilla offers a sweet fragrance through its natural principle heliotropin.  This reduces anxiety, stress & emotional tension.  The fragrance produces euphoria, reduces drowsiness, increases muscular strength & improves circulation.  In the aged, the unique fragrance enhances desire; in fact, a 1762 German study claimed vanilla is useful in impotence!