Vanilla

Vanilla in fine perfumery is a fixative as much as a note — anchored in PREMIEREPEAU's Insuline Safrine through a Saint-Honoré pastry accord alongside Madagascar clove and bitter almond.

Vanilla planifolia is a native of the neotropical realm, from southern Mexico through Central America, Colombia, and the northern portions of Brazil. Its fruits are pods 15-23 centimetres long that outwardly resemble small bananas and mature after about eight to nine months. Vanilla planifolia is cultivated and harvested primarily in Veracruz, Mexico, Tahiti, Indonesia, and Madagascar. Madagascar is presently the largest producer of natural vanillin. Three major species of vanilla are grown globally: V. planifolia, V. × tahitensis, and V. pompona. V. planifolia is grown on Madagascar, Réunion, and other tropical areas along the Indian Ocean. V. × tahitensis is grown in the South Pacific.

Vanilla × tahitensis is a polyploid that is a cross between Vanilla planifolia and Vanilla odorata. It was first described by the botanist John William Moore in 1933 from Raiatea in the Society Islands. Seeds from Madagascar were taken to Tahiti in 1848 by the French Admiral Ferdinand-Alphonse Hamelin, and this foundation stock is now cultivated as Vanilla tahitensis in French Polynesia. Compared with Vanilla planifolia, the pods of V. × tahitensis are shorter and broader, and its taste and fragrance are also distinctive. The pods of V. × tahitensis develop over about nine months and are picked by hand when they turn reddish-brown. Their curing and fermentation lasts for about three months, during which the pods lose much of their moisture and become supple and oily. Vanillin makes up 80% of the total aromatic compounds found in the pods of Vanilla planifolia, in contrast to the 50% content of Vanilla × tahitensis pods.

Natural vanilla flavor is a complex mixture of more than 200 flavor components. The major chemical components from the pods of Vanilla planifolia are vanillin, vanillic acid, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid. Among the odor-active compounds, vanillin is the greatest contribution to the aroma of beans. Green seed pods contain vanillin only in the form of its glucoside, glucovanillin, and lack the characteristic odor of vanilla. Cured vanilla pods contain about 2% vanillin by dry weight. Relatively pure vanillin may be visible as a white dust or "frost" on the exteriors of cured pods of high quality. Vanillin is a phenolic aldehyde with the molecular formula C₈H₈O₃. Its systematic name is 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde. Aging in oak barrels imparts vanillin to some wines, vinegar, and spirits. In other foods, heat treatment generates vanillin from other compounds.

The flowers of V. planifolia last about one day, sometimes less, so growers have to inspect their plantations every day for open flowers. In the wild, there is only around a 1% chance that any given vanilla flower will be successfully pollinated. A healthy vine should produce about 50 to 100 beans per year, but growers pollinate only five or six flowers from the 20 on each raceme. Of five known attempted introductions to Réunion between 1793 and 1875, only the 1822 introduction was successful. Almost all the vanilla grown around the Indian Ocean is likely descended from this one introduction, and modern genetic research supports this.

Vanillin was first isolated as a relatively pure substance in 1858 by Théodore Nicolas Gobley, who obtained it by evaporating a vanilla extract to dryness and recrystallizing the solids from hot water. In 1874, the German scientists Ferdinand Tiemann and Wilhelm Haarmann deduced its chemical structure. Synthetic vanillin became significantly more available in the 1930s, when production from clove oil was supplanted by production from lignin-containing waste. The demand for vanilla flavoring has long exceeded the supply of vanilla beans. In 2001 the annual demand for vanillin was 12,000 tons, but only 1,800 tons of natural vanillin were produced. Vanillin prepared by microorganisms from ferulic acid extracted from rice bran can be labeled as a natural flavoring, unlike vanillin synthesized from lignin or guaiacol.

Ethylvanillin (CAS 121-32-4, C₉H₁₀O₃) carries an ethoxy group where vanillin has a methoxy group. As a flavorant, ethylvanillin is about three times as potent as vanillin. Synthetic vanillin is now used more often than natural vanilla extract as a flavoring in foods, beverages, and pharmaceuticals. Vanillin and ethylvanillin are used by the food industry; ethylvanillin is more expensive. Ethylvanillin is used in the production of chocolate. Reduction of the benzaldehyde group in ethylvanillin to a methyl group yields a compound called Ultravanil (vanilla cresol).

Vanilla anchors the dry-down of Insuline Safrine, wound around saffron and bitter almond, and darkens the amber base of Albâtre Sépia, where it meets frankincense smoke and fossil amber.

This note in PREMIEREPEAU. Insuline Safrine · Albâtre Sépia. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.