The Mexican region of Chinantla is the only place in the world where wild vanilla grows. Known locally as colibrí, these orchid vines grow in the heart of the forest, using moderate-size trees like citrus, cocoa, and calabash (jícara) trees for support.

Feb 5, 2024 · Mexico is the world’s third-largest natural vanilla producer, behind No. 2 Indonesia, according to 2022 data from the Food and Agriculture Organization. Most of the green vanilla Mexico produced in...

Jul 11, 2020 · Vanilla vines grow naturally in the jungles of Veracruz. Here, you can see two vanilla pods among the larger flat leaves of a tree-supported vine. The Spaniards and other Europeans didn't know that in New Spain, the flower had a symbiotic relationship with the tiny, native melipona (stingless) bee.

Mexican vanilla, and sometimes its name is vanilla Mexicana or scentless vanilla, is in Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, southeast Florida, and northern South America. This orchid has many branches vines, some of which can grow as high as 15m.

The Totonacas domesticated vanilla along the Gulf Coast in what is now Veracruz State, by making cuttings and planting the vines closer together in the forest. This doubled the crop. It was a very small crop relative to today’s market, and proportionately, far more costly.

I have come to Veracruz to glimpse the elusive vanilla orchid on the vine, to catch the rich scent of glossy beans curing in the sun, to breathe in the fragrance of the world’s finest vanilla in its Mexican birthplace.

May 21, 2023 · The richest source of vanilla in ancient times seems to have come from the Papantla region located in what is now the north-central part of the Mexican state of Veracruz. Researchers believe that the Totanacs began their larger vanilla-growing operations sometime between 1100 and 1200 AD.

Feb 5, 2024 · The indigenous Totonac discovered the vanilla vines that once grew wild in this rainy region, naming the orchids Xanat.

Jul 27, 2020 · Just the sight of this tropical yellow-flowered orchid wrapping its vines around its neighbors would be enough to dispel this notion once and for all. The use of this Mexican native plant by the Aztecs was first recorded by the faithful chronicler of the 1520’s Spanish expedition to central Mexico, Bernal Diaz.

Oct 22, 2018 · The Yucatan is home to a world-famous species of vine with languid white flowers commonly known as vanilla. Indigenous people in Mexico enjoyed the sweet flavor and the Aztecs dubbed it "black flower" for the dark color of cured vanilla bean pods.