378 



The World's Commercial Products 



A VANILLA VINE 





owing to the peculiar form 

 of the stigma rendering the 

 transference of pollen a 

 matter of great difficulty. 

 On an estate, therefore, 

 " pollination " is effected 

 artificially by hand, the 

 pollen being placed upon 

 the stigma by means of a 

 finely - pointed piece of 

 bamboo. The flowers are 

 not all pollinated, the 

 actual number depending 

 upon the size and condition 

 of the vine. Generally 

 speaking, about thirty pods 

 per vine are allowed to 

 mature, the flowers on the 

 lower part and sides of the cluster being chosen, since they yield the best and most shapely 

 pods. The pods reach their full size in about six weeks, and, when ripe turn slightly 

 yellow. They are then picked from the vine, great care being exercised to avoid splitting 

 or cracking the pods which would at once rank them as inferior grades. 



Before the pods are ready for the market as vanilla they are subjected to a curing 

 process, during which their characteristic odour is developed. The aroma and flavour are 

 chiefly due to the presence of a substance known as vanillin contained in a fluid which gradually 

 permeates the whole fruit ; it further slowly accumulates as crystals on the outside of the cured 

 pods. The pods are roughly divided into four classes according to size, and then, in batches 

 of about four hundred, placed in a basket and plunged into hot water at about 190° F. for 

 ten seconds. The process is repeated twice for slightly longer periods at intervals of half- 

 a-minute, and, after the third dip, the pods are placed in boxes, lined with a blanket, to sweat ; 

 the pods themselves are also covered with a blanket to retain the heat. By the next morning 

 the pods have assumed a chocolate-brown colour, and are then placed on shelves in drying 

 rooms maintained at a temperature of about 1 10° F. ; the slower the drying process the more 

 perfect the curing. Well-cured pods should be much wrinkled, bending easily. When the 

 curing is complete the pods are dried with pieces of flannel, and temporarily stored in boxes 

 with tightly-fitting lids. They are then carefully sorted into different grades and finally 

 bound up into bundles of about fifty each, and packed, with great care, for export. 



The cultivation of vanilla affords a good instance of a planting industry threatened by 

 the advances of modern chemistry. Within recent years considerable quantities of " vanillin," 

 or artificial vanilla, have been manufactured on the Continent, chiefly in Germany and France. 

 Vanillin was discovered as early as. 1858, but its preparation upon a commercial scale did not 

 rneet r jwith success until 1890, when the product was obtained from eugenol, the substance 

 to which ." oil . of . cloves. " owes its characteristic odour. More recently vanillin has been 

 prepared, from, sugar byr an electroLypic process. 



. • ■ ;.. .- v. . ,:......... 



. • -.. PEPPER; , 



Under the term " pepper " or "peppers " are included more than one spice, but the most 

 important are the black and white- pepper so largely used as a condiment. ." Black pepper " 

 consists 'of' the dried, unripe fruits of Piper nigrum, a perennial climbing shrub found native 

 in the 'forests of Travancore -and Malabar in Southern India, and largely cultivated in Java, 

 Sumatra, Borneo, the Philippines, Siam, and also in the West Indies. 



