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VANILLA

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 895 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VANILLA , a flavouring See also:

agent largely used in the manufacture of See also:chocolate, in See also:confectionery and in See also:perfumery. It consists of the fermented and dried pods of several See also:species of See also:orchids belonging to the genus Vanilla.' The See also:great bulk of the commercial See also:article is the produce of V. planifolia, a native of See also:south-eastern See also:Mexico, but now largely cultivated in several tropical countries, especially in See also:Bourbon, the See also:Seychelles, See also:Tahiti and See also:Java. The plant has a See also:long fleshy See also:stem and attaches itself by its aerial rootlets to trees; the roots also penetrate the See also:soil and derive a considerable portion of their nourishment from 1 Span. manilla, dim. of vain, a pod. it. The leaves are alternate, See also:oval-lanceolate and fleshy; the See also:light greenish See also:flowers See also:form axillary spikes. The See also:fruit is a pod Vanilla Plant (Vanilla planifolia). A, shoot with ,See also:flower, See also:lea and aerial rootlets; B, pod or fruit. from 6 to ro in. long, and when mature about See also:half an See also:inch in See also:diameter. The See also:wild plant yields a smaller and less aromatic fruit, distinguished in Mexico as Baynilla cimarona, the cultis seated vanilla being known as B. corrienle. Vanilla was used by the See also:Aztecs of Mexico as an ingredient in the manufacture of chocolate before the See also:discovery of See also:America by the Spaniards, who adopted its use. The earliest botanical See also:notice is given in 1605 by Clusius (Exoticorum Libri Decem), who had received fruits from See also:Hugh See also:Morgan, See also:apothecary to See also:Queen See also:Elizabeth; but'he seems to have known nothing of its native See also:country or uses. The Mexican vanilla had been introduced to cultivation before the publication of the second edition of See also:Philip See also:Miller's Gardeners' See also:Dictionary (1739).

It was reintroduced by the See also:

marquis of See also:Blandford, and in 18o7 a flowering specimen was figured and described by` R. A. See also:Salisbury (Paradisus, See also:London, t. 82). Mexican vanilla is regarded as the best. It is principally consumed in the See also:United States, la Bourbon about 3000 acres are under cultivation; the See also:crop is sent to See also:Bordeaux, the See also:chief centre of the See also:trade in See also:France. Its odour is said to differ from the Mexican variety in having a See also:suggestion of tonqua See also:bean. The Seychelles produce large quantities of exceedingly See also:fine quality; the produce of these islands goes chiefly to the London See also:market. The Java vanilla, grown chiefly in See also:Krawang and the See also:Preanger Regencies, is shipped to See also:Holland. The Tahiti produce is inferior in quality. Mr See also:Hermann See also:Mayer See also:Senior, in the Chemist and Druggist, See also:June 3o, 1906, gives, the following figures, which approximately represent the See also:world's output of vanilla during the seasons 1905–1906: Bourbon, 7o tons; Seychelles, 45 tons; See also:Mauritius, 5 tons; Comores, See also:Mayotte, See also:Madagascar, &c., 120 tons; See also:Guadeloupe, Java, See also:Ceylon and See also:Fiji, io tons; Mexica, 70 tons; Tahiti, See also:loo tons—See also:total, about 420 tons. The See also:beat varieties. of vanilla pods are of a very dark chocolate See also:brown or nearly See also:black See also:colour, and are covered with a crystalline efflorescence technically known as givre, the presence of which is taken as a criterion of quality.

The See also:

peculiar fragrance of vanilla is due to vanillin, CsHsOs, which forms this efflorescence. Chemically speaking, it is the aldehyde of methyl-protocatechuic See also:acid. It is not naturally See also:present in the fleshy exterior of the pod, but is secreted by See also:hair-like papillae lining its three See also:internal angles, and ultimately becomes diffused through the viscid oily liquid surrounding the seeds. The amount of vanillin varies according to the See also:kind: Mexican vanilla yields 1.69, Bourbon or See also:Reunion I.9 to 2.48, and Java 2,75%. Besides vanillin, the pods contain vanillic acid (which is odourless), about 11% of fixed oil, 2.3% of soft See also:resin, See also:sugar, See also:gum and oxalate of See also:lime. Vanillin forms crystalline needles, fusible at 81 ° C., and soluble in See also:alcohol, See also:ether and See also:oils, hardly soluble in See also:cold, but more so in boiling See also:water. Like other See also:aldehydes, it forms a See also:compound with the alkaline bisulphites, and can by this means be extracted from bodies containing it. Vanillin has been found in See also:Siam See also:benzoin and in raw sugar, and has been prepared artificially from coniferin, a See also:glucoside found in the sapwood of See also:fir-trees, from asafoetida, and from a constituent of oil of See also:cloves named See also:eugenol, It is from the last-named that vanillin is now prepared on a commercial See also:scale, chiefly in See also:Germany. Vanillin does not appear to have any physiological See also:action on human beings when taken in small doses, as much as so to 15 grains having been administered without noxious results. On small animals, however, such as frogs, it appears to See also:act ac a convulsive, It has been suggested as a stimulant of an excitomotor See also:character in atonic See also:dyspepsia. It is a constituent of Gifnzburg's reagent (phloro-vanillin-glucin) for the detection of See also:free hydrochloric acid in the " gastric contents. The poisonous effects that have on several occasions followed from eating ices flavoured with vanilla are not to be attributed to the vanilla, but probably to the presence of tyrotoxicon (Phurm. founn.

[3], xvii. p. 150), a See also:

poison found in See also:milk which has undergone certain putrefactive changes, and producing choleraic effects, or perhaps to the presence of microscopic See also:fungi in the vanilla, the plantations being liable to the attack of Bacterium putredinis. Workmen handling the beans in the Bordeaux factories are subject to itching of the hands and See also:face; but this is caused by an See also:Acarus which occupies the end of the pod. In some cases, however, symptoms of dizziness, weariness and malaise, with See also:muscular pains, have been See also:felt, due possibly to the absorption of the oily juice by the hands of the workmen. See also R. A. Rolfe, " Vanillas of See also:Commerce," in See also:Kew Bulletin (1895), p. 169, and " Revision of the Genus Vanilla," in See also:Journal of The Linnean Society (See also:Botany), xxxii. 439 (1896); also S. J. Galbraith, on " Cultivation in the Seychelles," U.S. Dept. of See also:Agriculture, See also:Division of Botany, Bulletin 21 (1898).

End of Article: VANILLA

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