Hint of Vanilla

The other day, our friend Steve dropped off about 20’ of vanilla vine from one of his plants. It’s funny how intentions work. Before we moved to Costa Rica, I did a little research on growing Vanilla Bean plants. What I learned is that Vanilla bean plants are orchids and happily grow in high heat and humidity. A perfect fit for our local weather. What I found

intimidating is the hand pollination process. Once we got settled here, I mentioned it to M but we didn’t actively pursue it. There were so many other delightful and easy-to-grow food plants to get started. Then a couple of months ago, M’s interest was revived and we watched a few YouTube videos. (Without YouTube, our DIY self-sufficiency would be greatly diminished.) Steve’s been growing a wide variety of food-bearing flora on his farm for several years. He recently returned from Florida after an almost 2 year absence and over dinner M mentioned that he wanted to grow vanilla. In our little community, there is a saying,

“Friends don’t let friends buy plants.”

Ergo, Steve’s generosity. He told us of his hands off approach to the plants, placing the roots in a tall bucket of loose composted soil then winding the vines up the branches of a tree. And he has never hand pollinated them.

20 feet of vanilla vine

Luckily there are some enterprising bees or hummingbirds on his farm to do the work for him. Currently he has 7 beans growing! M followed Steve’s instructions and within a week, there was a flower. M is using a small paint brush to gently dust the pollen from the flower to pollinate it. After less than a month, we are very excited to announce that we our welcoming into the world, our first vanilla bean! The wonders and possibilities open up before me. Some day will we enjoy the delicate flavoring of our own home-grown vanilla extract? To steal a line from Rocky Horror Picture Show, “I shiver with anticipation!”

I remember my earliest encounters with vanilla extract as the small somewhat triangular-shaped bottle of dark brown glass kept on a high shelf in our family’s kitchen. It was the summer after Grade 8 and my mother who was teaching Summer School classes felt that my time would be better served if I took classes too. My grades were fine so she signed my up for typing and cooking. A knowledge and aptitude for these 2 skills had an immeasurable impact during the length of my life.

Snapshot memories of the cooking class flash in my mind’s eye: the white walls and counters of the Home Ec room, the sheaf of mimeographed papers with the recipes, the not so successful results. I kept that sheaf of recipes for several years. Though cooking at home was not a high priority for me for several of the proceeding decades. The 2 recipes that I remember are lasagna and cheese cake. I still make a version of that lasagna recipe a few times a year. The cheese cake recipe is memorable because in the excitement of my new-found skill, I wanted to make it at home for my family. I remember having all the ingredients like graham crackers for the crust, sugar, cream cheese, salt, the aforementioned Vanilla Extract. As I was stirring the cream cheese mixture, my mom came through the kitchen and we tasted it. OMG, it was so bitter. I mixed up the measurements of the salt and sugar. I added a cup of salt by mistake.

Fortunately for M and my palates, I don’t make that kind of mistake anymore. Many dishes I make from scratch without having to look at a recipe. It’s quite liberating. Since I can’t just jump in the car and run out to the store to pick up an ingredient, I get creative in making substitutions. M never complains about any of the concoctions that I serve. And the best compliment is that he always has seconds. Hopefully, in the near future, my homemade banana cinnamon ice cream or the oatmeal almond butter cookies will have a soupçon of homegrown vanilla.