The significance of vanilla is evident through the financial dependency in Madagascar, crime in islands off of Africa and French influences.

Financial Dependency: Vanilla producing countries are so dependent on their product that their economies rose and fell with the vanilla industry.
Crime: Due to the dependency of vanilla for the economy, when prices rose many in Madagascar and Comoros countries fell below the poverty line and turned to crime in order to make a living.
Beliefs and Language: Since the French first came to Madagascar and other vanilla growing countries a mix of their religions, customs and languages has become evident.

History

        Vanilla is from the Mexican species of flat leaved vanilla, it is an orchid and is grown from the cured seed or bean. It has been recorded that both the Aztec and Totonac people used the orchid. A Spanish conquistador known as Hernan Cortes is said to have brought the bean back to Europe in the 1520's however, the recorded trade of the bean first started with the French. Since the vanilla was a good and Europeans did want to produce the bean a way to pollinate the bean was necessary. The Melipona bee, native only to Mexico was known for pollinating the vanilla orchid however, European countries lacked such a bee and therefore could not produce the plant. For many years the vanilla could not be produced nor traded, however in 1837 Charles Francois Antoine Morren made a break through and found out a way to artificially pollinated vanilla, but his discovery went unfinanced and failed. Four years later, twelve year old slave Edmond Albius invented the process of hand pollination, revolutionizing agriculture and adding to global trade (Vanilla).

Present Day

        Currently Vanilla is grown and exported from over a dozen nations including, Indonesia, Madagascar, China, India, Mexico and Turkey. Vanilla is currently the second most expensive spice in the world due to the high demand and the labor needed to pollinate the orchid. The plant is now used in culinary aspects such as: being powdered to be blended with sugar, starch and other ingredients, extract, flavoring for chocolate, caramel, coffee, cakes, etc. and is used for the production of vanilla ice cream which according to surveys is the most popular ice cream flavor (Vanilla). Aside from culinary purposes the plant is also used for its scented quality in perfumes and lotions.

Stages of Production

Harvest:
       Not only does the plant require six months to mature but each pod has its own rate at which it grows and is ready to be picked, therefore a daily harvest is needed. The pale yellow discoloration indicates the maturity of the bean and its readiness to be harvested. During the harvest rating of the vanilla beans usually occur. A bean that is less than 10 centimeters is in the third quality category, these usually sell for small amounts of money. Secondary category vanilla beans are 10 to 15 centimeters long while first rate vanilla beans are 15 centimeters or over. Pods between 16 and 21 centimeters are sold in the gourmet vanilla market (Vanilla)

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Demonstrating the drying process.

Curing:
Curing consists of killing, sweating, slow-drying and the conditioning of the beans.
Killing - Vegetative tissue is killed in order to stop the growth of the bean. This is accomplished by heating the pod in hot water, freezing, scratching or placing the beans in an oven or sunlight.
Sweating - Sweating is the time period of 7 to 10 days where the beans are densely stacked in large quantities and preserved in a woolen cloth, after the allotted time of days the pods now have a scent and taste of vanilla.
Drying - Drying is not only the most problematic stage of production but also one of the most important. Drying reduces the moisture content of the pods to about 25%, this must be done carefully so that no flavor is lost.
Conditioning: The pods are stored for six months in dosed boxes. After this their grade/ category is based on the length, appearance and moisture content of the bean (Vanilla).