VANILLA 63 



portion of water in them. This varied from 32 per cent 

 in a Mexican sample to 49*5 per cent in a Seychelles 

 sample (which was mouldy). 



The table he gives shows that if the vanillas contain- 

 ing a large percentage of water are not always mouldy, 

 due perhaps to their freedom from infection (i.e. the 

 absence of mildew on the drying stages), those that were 

 found to be mouldy were among the wettest fruits. 



The proportion of water in a fruit is excessive when 

 it contains over 35 or 36 per cent of moisture, by 

 weight. The proportions of water in the mouldy fruits 

 were as follows : 



Seychelles 49-5, 36'6, 36'4, 47*6. 

 Comoro 39-0, 39'3. 



The importers of vanilla have noticed that the 

 vanillas of Mexico are less liable to mildew than those 

 from the Mascarene Islands. In the latter region, 

 instead of exposing the fresh pods to the full sun first, 

 the planters plunge them at once into hot water at 80 

 to 85 C., or some expose them to steam for a consider- 

 able time. This destroys the waxy coat of the fruits 

 more or less, according to the length of time they are 

 exposed to the water and also to the temperature of the 

 water. The vanillas of the Mascarene Islands are there- 

 fore not as bright in appearance as those of Mexico. 

 The absence or rarity of crystallisation (givre) in the 

 Mexican vanilla is probably due to this, for in the 

 Mascarene Islands vanilla crystallises readily, and it 

 seems certain that the waxy coat of the fruit prevents 

 the exudation and consequent crystallisation of the 

 vanillin. 



M. Lecomte put the dried vanillas in a stove with 

 wet air and found that there was a considerable differ- 

 ence in the amount of water taken up by the different 

 kinds. The Tahiti vanillas took up 49*9 per cent of 

 water; Javanese 10*1 percent; the Mascarene Islands 

 5 '2 to 5 '6 per cent. The excess of water taken up by 

 the first two he attributes to the almost complete absence 



