15-10-2004, 01:35 AM
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(Iris Cohen) wrote in
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Vanilla is a genus of orchid not a bean, Donald.
To be able to self pollinate the flowers, you would first need to
be growing
the plants in full bloom!!! BRBR
Actually I believe the vanilla fruit is considered a pod, but it
is often called a bean. It is quite different from other orchid
fruits, most of which are capsules. One reason vanilla is so
expensive is that the vanilla pods require extensive preparation
before the vanilla essence is extracted.
The word "vanilla" comes from another word meaning "little
bean",
Not true. It comes from the Spanish word vainilla, meaning a
little sheath. It is from the same Latin root as vagina.
Another reason why vanilla is so labor intensive, & hence
expensive, is that there is no natural pollinator in the parts of
the world where it is grown today. It has to be hand pollinated.
Since the flowers only last a day or so, the workers have to go
through the plantation on a daily basis to pollinate them.
Another problem is that there are several viruses which attack
vanilla vines. The person who develops a self-pollinating,
disease-resistant vanilla cultivar will definitely have it made.
I checked my University of Chicago Spanish Dictionary...
OK, it also means pod, and beans come in pods!
It doesn't help that it takes several months between flower and a
ripe fruit. My experience in seeing it growing indicates that it
doesn't like to flower either, though some pictures on the web show
lots of fruit on a smallish plant.
Sean
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