Handbook of Vanilla Science and Technology

In Mesoamerica, the earliest historical evidence for the practice of vanilla cultivation (“vainillales”), as opposed to the gathering of wild vanilla fruits, is around the 1760s in the Colipa/Misantla and Papantla regions of north-central Veracruz (Fontecilla 1861; Bruman 1948; Kouri 2004). This cultivation, carried out predominantly by Totonac communities, served to provide nascent European demand for exotic luxury items from tropical colonies, such as cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) beverages spiced with vanilla and cinnamon, and later sugar (Kouri 2004; Coe and Coe 2007). Whether pre-Columbian cultivation (i.e. “domestication”) of vanilla existed in Mesoamerica is unclear, as is the nature and extent of vanilla’s pre-Columbian cultural importance (Hagsater et al. 2005; Lubinsky 2007). The antiquity of vanilla use as a cacao-beverage flavoring is probably nearly equivalent to that of the consumption of cacao beverages themselves (Hurst et al. 2002; McNeil 2006; Crown and Hurst 2009). Unfortunately, archaeo-botanical analysis of ancient Maya “chocolate pot” residues, which have positively confirmed the presence of theobromine (Henderson et al. 2007), are unlikely to show traces of vanillin, since the compound is relatively simple and breaks down readily (W.J. Hurst; personal communication). Lacking such evidence, there are only Contact-era references to vanilla that provide support for preColumbian vanilla use in Mesoamerica (see Section I). A fair judgment, given the available information, is that Totonac cultivation of vanilla arose for the purpose of commercial export, while the pre-Columbian Maya probably were first to experiment with sporadic vanilla cultivation, since the natural distribution of V. planifolia overlaps with what was once the principal region for cacao and achiote/annatto (Bixa orellana L.) cultivation and trade/tribute during the Late Postclassic (ad 1350-1500), namely, in the vicinities of the Soconusco, Lacandon, and Peten (Bergmann 1969; Sauer 1993; Caso Barrera and Fernandez 2006; Lubinsky 2007). Maya vanilla cultivation was a possibility at least by 1699, when Marcelo Flores, a Spanish captain, remarked that in the vicinity of eastern Guatemala/southern Belize:

... there is a town... that belongs to the doctrine of the priests of Santo Domingo, which is the town of Belen, close to Rabinal. And in all of these localities there is evidence that there are Indians using these paths and trails at their own manner and habit, as is evidenced in the care and tidiness of their cacao and vanilla orchards and other fruits (Caso Barrera and Fernandez 2006).

Although there are many aromatic species of Vanilla in northern South America, and despite both historical and present-day confirmation of vanilla use in the region (see Plate 8.1 in the Color Plate Section, Table 8.1), there has never been an attempt to synthesize or characterize the nature of South American vanilla ethnobotany. Here, we provide a review of the relevant literature and specifically explore the possibility that vanilla may have been independently domesticated in South America. To have achieved a vanilla culture that was as elaborate as that which existed in New Spain in the late eighteenth century, at least two requirements had to have been met in South America: cultivation (planting), and post-harvest processing consisting of curing-fermentation. For convenience, in comparison, we have separated our review of the literature into three stages of vanilla history, more or less defined by technological advancements or changes that impacted vanilla production specifically in the Mesoamerican region, as well as on a worldwide scale:

I “Pre-cultivation” (ca. 1500-1750s), defined by an absence of cultivation; confusion in Europe over the correct botanical identity of vanilla; cacao exports to Europe being predominantly Mesoamerican in origin; and European frustration over how to cure vanilla;

II the “Papantla monopoly” (1760s-1840s), characterized by the initiation of cultivation in Veracruz, Mexico (but without artificial pollination); the decline of cacao cultivation in Mesoamerica and its expansion into South America; the establishment of Linnaean taxonomy, and the correct determination of V. planifolia as the vanilla orchid of commerce; the introduction of V. planifolia cuttings to Europe; and lamentations that cultivation in South America had unrealized potential;