"Vanilla orchids... now cultivated in Madagascar, Tahiti and Indonesia. New plantations... also... in the Caribbean and Africa.
... The vine grows in the shade of a host tree, like citrus or cacao... It... takes nine months for the blossoms to mature into the... green beans. After the beans are harvested, they go through a... curing process that can also take up to nine months. The quality of the vanilla bean depends most on how well it has been cured... Vanilla extract is made by immersing vanilla beans in alcohol. Vanilla paste and vanilla powder, long used in Europe, are now being introduced to American... The labor involved in bringing the completed vanilla bean to the table makes it the second-most expensive spice in the world [first is saffron]" URL : http://www.pioneerlocal.com/508275,pp-vanilla-081607-s2.article ***************** Regards, VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
