Dawn
Did you know that the vanilla flavor you use in flavoring your food comes from an orchid? Yes, that is right, the vanilla plant is and orchid, an epiphyte that grows on trees.
The leaves of the vanilla vine feels like plastic, even more plastic than most orchids.
These orchids love growing under the shade of trees. However, they need special pollinators (Melipona bee) to pollinate their blooms.
These blooms last for just a day. We need to hand pollinate these blooms to get the vanilla pods where these pollinators don’t exist
These plants take 2-7 years to mature and produce vanilla bean.
Vanila orchids make beautiful house plants when they receive a few hours of filtered light. They are also less fussy than other flowering orchids. They love being misted and enjoy higher levels of humidity.
These flowers are green yellow in color are not so fancy looking like other orchids.
Just a six inch cutting is enough to start a 30 feet long vine. They root easily and grow well with little or no care.
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Question of
Did you know that your vanilla flavor came from an orchid?
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Yes
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Question of
Do you like vanilla flavor?
I love vanilla. Thanks for sharing this information. I didn’t know that.
Thanks Vidoka, glad to share the information.
2 to 7 years? No wonder it’s so expensive.
It is expense also because it needs special pollinators or needs to be hand pollinated within a time frame of 18 hours.
i think i might have heard this before, but you locked it in this time! awesome!!!
Glad I helped that get locked in, some information gets locked in easily while other floats around vaguely.
so you have looked inside my head!
I was surprised by the fact that vanilla originates .. I use this scent in my sweets.
I love the vanilla flavor in my cooking as well.
I did not know this Dawn. Thanks for yet another lesson about nature.
I am glad you liked it. I have a plant that is 4 years old and has bloomed only once.