348 
Commercial  Vanilla. 
[Am. Jour  Pharm. 
t      July,  1881. 
140°F.  When  the  temperature  of  the  oven  has  fallen  to  113°F.,  the 
smaller  beans  are  introduced  and  the  oven  is  closed  tightly.  Twenty- 
four  hours  afterwards  the  smaller  beans  were  taken  out,  and  twelve 
hours  later  the  larger  ones.  During  the  sweating  the  vanilla  acquires 
a  line  chestnut  color.  It  is  now  spread  on  matting,  exposed  to  the 
sun  every  day  for  about  two  months,  and  when  the  drying  is  nearly 
complete  is  spread  out  in  a  dry  place,  and  finally  tied  up  in  small 
packets. 
In  Reunion  the  pods  are  sorted  according  to  length  and  scalded  in 
water  of  194°F.,  the  long  ones  for  10  seconds,  and  the  medium  and 
short  ones  for  15  seconds  and  one  minute.  They  are  then  exposed  for 
6  or  8  days  to  the  sun,  between  woolen  blankets,  until  they  acquire  the 
-characteristic  chestnut  color,  when  they  are  spread  out,  under  sheds  roofed 
with  zinc,  to  dry  gradually  for  about  a  month,  being  frequently  turned 
in  the  meantime.  AVhen  they  have  acquired  the  proper  degree  of 
dryness  to  be  easily  twisted  around  the  finger  without  cracking,  they 
undergo  the  smootlimg  process,  each  bean  being  repeatedly  passed  by 
the  operator  between  liis  fingers ;  the  oil  exuded  from  the  entire  sur- 
face of  the  bean  imparts  the  lustre  and  suppleness.  When  sufficiently 
dry,  the  beans  are  tied  up  in  bundles  of  uniform  length.  The  three 
commercial  varieties  are,  1,  fine  vanilla,  8  to  11  inches  long,  nearly 
black,  unctuous,  glossy  and  clean- looking,  and  soon  becoming  covered 
with  frost-like  crystals ;  2,  woody  vanilla,  6  to  8  inches  long,  lighter 
in  color,  more  or  less  spotted  with  grey,  not  glossy,  with  few  crystals ; 
collected  in  an  unripe  condition  ;  3,  vanillons,  either  obtained  from 
short  ripe  fruit,  frosting  well,  or  the  abortive  and  unripe  fruit,  whose 
perfume  is  simply  the  result  of  absorption  from  the  fine  beans  with 
which  they  have  so  long  been  in  contact. 
The  total  yield  of  the  Mauritius  and  Reunion  j^lantations  is  esti- 
mated at  29,255  kilos  in  1875,  34,322  kilos  in  J  876,  41,270  kilos  in 
1877,  35,000  kilos  in  1878  and  40,000  kilos  in  1880. 
Vanillin. — Its  amount  in  commercial  vanilla  from  ^^arious  sources 
has  been  estimated  at  from  ^1|^  to  2J  per  cent.  The  benzoic  acid  found 
by  some  chemists  in  Mexican  vanilla  was,  according  to  Tiemann  and 
Haarmann,  a  mixture  of  vanillic  acid  and  its  aldehyd  vanillin ;  or 
benzoic  acid  may  have  been  dusted  over  inferior  qualities  of  vanilla 
to  imitate  the  natural  inflorescence.  Although  vanillin  is  the  principal 
vehicle  of  the  aroma,  it  is  believed  not  to  constitute  the  sole  flavor 
and  perfume  of  vanilla,  and  that  the  vanillin  prepared  artificially  by 
