VANILLA. 



397 



white colour; the hark is brownisli. The leaves 

 ai-e lanceolate, oblong, bright green, quite entire; 

 tlie flowers are email, reddisli, and inodorous. 

 The fruit is smooth, of a yellow or red tinge, 

 and about tliree inches in diameter; the rind is 

 fleshy, about half an inch in thickness, flesh- 

 coloured; within the pulp white, of the consis- 

 tence of butter, separating from the rind when 

 ripe, and adhering only to it by filaments, which 

 penetrate it and reach to the seeds. Hence it is 

 known when the seeds are ripe, by the rattling 

 of the capsule when it is shaken. The pulp has 

 a sweet and not unpleasant taste, with a slight 

 acidity. It is sucked and eaten raw by the na- 

 tives. The seeds are about twenty-five in num- 

 ber; when fresh they are of a flesh colour; ga- 

 thered before quite ripe they preserve them in 

 sugar, and thus they are very grateful to the 

 palate. They quickly lose their power of vege- 

 tation if taken out of the capsule, but kept in 

 it they preserve that power for a long time. 

 The tree bears leaves, flowers, and fniit, all the 

 year through; but the usual seasons for gathering 

 the fruit are June and December. In two years 

 it is above three feet high, and spreads its branches, 

 not more than five of which are suffered to re- 

 main: in three years it begins to bear fruit. A 

 tree yields from two to three pounds of seeds 

 annually. Tlie seeds are nourishing and agreea- 

 ble to most people, and are in general use in 

 South America, and in the West India islands. 



The seeds of the cacao were made use of as 

 money in Mexico, in the time of the Aztec kings, 

 and this use of them is still partially continued, 

 the smaller seeds being employed for the pur- 

 pose. The lowest denomination of coined money 

 current in Mexico is of the value of about six- 

 pence; and as there must arise many petty tran- 

 sactions of business to a lower amount, the con- 

 venience of these seeds, six of which are reckoned 

 as of the value of one halfpenny, must needs be 

 very great. 



Cacao is principally used after having been 

 made into cakes, to which the name of chocolate 

 is given. The method anciently employed by 

 the Indians in making these cakes, was simply 

 to roast the seeds in earthen pots, and after clear- 

 ing them from the husks, which by reason of 

 the heat employed could be easily removed, the 

 naked seeds were bruised between two stones, 

 and made up with the hands into cakes. The 

 process at present used l)y Europeans does not 

 differ greatly from that just described : more 

 care is taken in grinding the seeds after they are 

 roasted, so as to convert them into a paste which 

 is perfectly smooth, and some flavouring ingre- 

 dients are added, according to the taste of the 

 people who are to consume the chocolate. Cloves 

 and cinnamon are much used for this purpose by 

 tlie Spaniards; other aromatics, and even per- 

 fumes, siich as mxisk, and ambergris, have some- 



I4S. 



times been added; but the principal flavouring 

 ingredient used with cacao is vanilla, a short 

 notice of which we subjoin. The intimate mix- 

 ture of these substances having been effected, 

 the whole is put while yet hot into tin moulds, 

 where it hardens in cooling, and in this form, if 

 preserved from the air, it will keep good for a 

 considerable time. Chocolate is not very much 

 consumed in England; it is in greater esteem in 

 France. It forms the ordinary breakfast in Spain; 

 and in Mexico, according to Humboldt, it is not 

 considered an object of luxury, but rather of 

 prime necessity. 



Vanilla (vanilla aromatica), belongs to the 

 natural iaxaWy orchidccB ; gynandria, monandria, 

 Linnasus. It is a native of IMexico, and of some 

 parts of India. The Spaniards found its fniit 

 in use among the Aztecs at the time of their first 

 invasion of Mexico. At this day, although a 

 considerable quantity of vanilla pods is collected 

 in that state for the purpose of exportation, the 

 people do not themselves employ them in the 

 manufacture of chocolate, the only use to which 

 they have ever been anywhere applied, conceiv- 

 ing them to be possessed of unwholesome pro- 

 perties. 



The vanilla is a climbing 

 plant; its leaves are lanceo- 

 late and ribbed, eighteen 

 inches long, and three inches 

 broad. Itsflowersarowhite, 

 intermixed with stripes of 

 red and yellow colours; 

 these are succeeded by long 

 and slender pods, which at 

 first are green, but become 

 yellow as they ripen, and 

 are then collected for use. 



contains, besides its numerous seeds, a sub- 

 stance which is black, oily, and balsamic; when 

 recently gathered this is humid, and its odour is 

 said to induce a kind of temporary intoxication. 

 The pods are harvested during the three latter 

 months of the year, and are- carefully dried by 

 exposure to the sun's rays until they are made 

 waiTO, in which state they are wrapped in wool- 

 Ion cloths, to promote and absorb evaporation. 

 By this process the vanilla acquires a black hue, 

 with a somewhat silvery appearance. Five of 

 the pods, thus treated, will usually weigh one 

 ounce. The pods and seeds have a pleasing 

 smell, somewhat like Peru balsam, or the ton- 

 quin bean. 



The vanilla plant is very easily propagated by 

 cuttings, as it shoots out roots at every joint; 

 these, each about a foot in length, are planted at 

 the root of the tree about which it is intended 

 to climb. These plants will yield pods in their 

 third year, and each will continue to furnish 

 about fifty annually for thirty or forty yeai's. 



