One of the precious gifts of nature is the sweet seductive fragrance of vanilla. It is a delicious flavour which can be added to beverages, ice creams, pastries, desserts to name a few. There are 110 varieties of vanilla orchids, but only one produces fruit: the vanilla planifolia. It´s found in Mexico, where it is commercially grown to produce the vanilla beans.

HISTORY
The Aztecs grounded the black vanilla pods to make cacao drink called Xocoatl, the chocolate beverage of the Aztecs. Legends say that the emperor Moctezuma offered the conquistador Hernan Cortez some vanilla flavoured cocoa in a golden globet, When Cortez returned to Spain, he brought him a great deal of the gold, silver and jewels plundered from the Aztecs. Of even greater importance, he also brought cacao beans and vanilla pods.