Vanilla is the only spice obtained from the aristocratic family of orchids. In the wild its twining stems climb high up into the tops of trees, anchoring themselves by means of aerial roots.
The flowers are large and coloured pale green; each opens for a single day and can be pollinated by one kind of bee found only in Mexico. Thanks to this small bee, Mexico maintained its monopoly on the export of vanilla for 300 years up until the 19th century. It was known to the Aztecs, who used it to flavour cocoa long before the discovery of America by Europeans.
Nowadays, it is raised not only in Mexico but elsewhere, chiefly in Madagascar, for it can be pollinated by artificial means. It is propagated by cuttings and trained up artificial supports or small trees. It begins to bear fruits in the third year. These are 16-to 30-cm-(6- to 12-in-) long pod ;like capsules (known as vanilla pods) which are harvested while still immature so they do not burst.
It is sold as fresh pieces of root, ground to a powder, candied, preserved in syrup and as an extract for making ginger ale. In home cookery ginger is most commonly used finely ground in cakes, pies and sweet dishes in general as well as in soups and with meats and fish. Ground ginger is also a basic ingredient of curry powder and is added also to ketchup. The greatest consumers are the Arab countries, England and the USA.
Vanilla is used solely for flavouring sweet dishes such as puddings, custards and chocolate dishes, cake fillings and ice cream. Vanilla essence, made from extracts of the pod, or vanilla sugar (castor sugar placed in a closed jar together with a vanilla pod thereby absorbing its aroma) are used as flavouring.
In rural areas chopped nettle is fed to goslings, it is also a popular component of shampoos, but people often forget that it is also a tasty and very wholesome vegetable and flavouring. This is due, perhaps, to the fact that nettle is a kind of einderella amongst plants – unattractive, covered with stinging hairs and growing on waste ground and in ditches. However, do not be led astray by this. Though young spring shoots must be picked with gloved hands, when scalded they lose their sting and have a slightly bitter, spinach-like taste. Cooked alone like spinach or used to flavour spinach, nettle gives the dish a lovely green colour because its leaves contain a large amount of chlorophyll (the green pigment). They are also rich in Vitamin C, so important to one’s health, particularly after the long winter. Chopped, scalded spring shoots or leaves, may be used to flavour spring vegetable soups and vegetables served with meat. In some regions a baked mixture of eggs, breadcrumbs, chopped ham and chopped nettle is traditionally served at Easter time. Nettle is a perennial and very stubborn weed growing up to 120 cm (4 ft) high, which spreads not only by means of seeds but also by its thick, creeping, branching rhizomes. It is dioecious, which means that the male and female flowers arc borne on separate plants. Only freshly-picked nettle is used in cookery as it is not suitable for drying. For this reason it is a seasoning of early spring, when the fresh young shoots are available.
