Vanilla is a tropical climbing orchid, with a long green fleshy stem that sprouts roots that cling to trees parasitically. Its yellow or orange orchidaceous flowers grow in bunches, which bloom one flower each day, opening one by 
one during the two month season. Vanilla is a tropical crop and cannot grow naturally in temperate climates. When cultivated the vines are trained using posts and support trees.
In nature they are only pollinated by Mexican bees and hummingbirds that are capable of penetrating a tough membrane that separates the plant’s pistol and stamen. European entrepreneurs had transplanted vanilla to grow in other tropical locations but could not get them to produce the pods. It wasn’t until 1836 that a botanist from Belgium, Charles Morren, recognized that the flowers were not being pollinated and would require some human assistance. In 1841, Edmond Albius, a former slave, on the French Island of Réunion, perfected a method to artificially fertilize 
the short-lived vanilla flower using a thin bamboo skewer to lift the membrane and use his thumb to smear the pollen. This gave great impetus to vanilla bean husbandry, and the method is still used today.
The pods take about nine months to mature and are harvested when the tips begin to turn from yellow. Until recently, the curing process was long and complicated. The beans are first wrapped and subjected to high temperature and humidity to ‘kill’ the vegetative life. The next process involves alternate drying in the sun by day and sweating by night for several days. At this point the beans are dark, oily and pliable and are then slowly dried in the shade for up to two months. They are then sorted and graded and placed in chests for a further conditioning period of one or two months.
