s

SmellyBlog

Vanilla is the New Silver


Vanilla is synonymous with the aroma of pastry baking as well as pleasing the common taste of the masses. It is the most popular ice cream flavour in the world, and is what makes Shalimar and a myriad of other Oriental-Ambery fragrances so beloved. But vanilla as a spice or flavouring has not always been associated with sweetness. The Aztecs steeped their sacred cacao beverages with vanilla and chilli, and the savoury is practiced in contemporary Mexican cuisine. Due to climate change and natural disasters in Madagascar, the country that is responsible for the majority of the world's production, we may not be able to enjoy vanilla ice cream as often as we are accustomed to. At least not with pure vanilla beans.

The term "Plain Vanilla" is the simplest, most basic form of things, lacking innovation or pizzazz in its design or characteristics. "Vanilla Software" is code that is so generic it can be potentially sold to any client, but at the same time be rather unsatisfactory because the customization hasn't been put in place yet. "Vanilla Sex" is a rather judgemental term for conventional sex, alluding to the persons preferring it being unadventurous, unimaginative, and generally boring. 

True vanilla extract, however, is anything but boring! 

Up until the 15th Centruy, vanilla was closely guarded by the Totonac people - first people of Mexico. In the mid 1400s, they were conquered by the Aztec and used vanilla fruits to pay them. The Aztecs adopted "Tlilxochitl"and incorporated it into their ceremonial cacao libation (along with masa harina, chilli and honey). In 1520, Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs and was greeted with this beverage. He took with him to Europe many of the botanical treasures he found, including cacao, vanilla beans, tomatoes and chilli peppers. It was not until about 300 years later though, that vanilla would produce any fruit - which happened in one of the French colonies in the Rénunion. But more on that later. 

The name vanilla originates from vainilla - a dimuniative for "vaina" (from the Latin word "vagina", meaning "sheath"). So "a little sheath" because of the shape of the vanilla fruit (or seed pods), which looked like a tiny sheath for placing a sword or a dagger. 

Botanical name(s): Vanilla planifolia

Synonyms: Vanilla fragrans, Common Vanilla, Mexican vanilla, Bourbon vanilla, Reunion vanilla, Madagascar Vanilla.

Other species of vanilla: Vanilla pompona (AKA West Indian Vanilla), which is grown in the West Indies, Central and South America. This variety is less known commercially. 

Vanilla tahitinesis (Tahitian Vanilla), which grows in the South Pacific (cultivated in French Polynesia), is possibly a hybrid between V. planifolia and V. odorata. It is speculated that it originated in Guatemala, and arrived in the Philipinnes by the Manilla galleon, and finally brought to Tahiti by the French admiral François Alphonse Hamelin. This vanilla species has a distinctively different aroma, more floral and less woody-animalic than the V. planifolia, and with a very sweet-pastry-powdery presence, reminiscent of heliotrope.

Most of the world's production (about 80%) of vanilla beans is in the island of Madagascar, off the southeast coast off Africa (the closest neighbouring country on the continent is Mozambique). In March 2017, the cyclone Enawo struck the island of Madagascar, damaging two of the largest vanilla-growing regions in the country. Because ripe and cured vanilla beans are such labour-intensive to produce, as you will shortly discover; and because new crops begin to bloom and produce fruit only when mature (which takes between 3-4 years), this cyclone has a global effect on the availability and price of vanilla. In 2018, vanilla prices have risen to 30-fold their price comparing to 2013 ($600 vs. $20 per kilo), which is more than the cost of silver! Prices have began to decline but are still prohibitively expensive, to the point that many ice cream producers are taking their vanilla-ice-creams off the menu or replacing it with artificially flavoured ones. As a result of this astronomical hike in price, crime has gone rampant in Madagascar, with the crops that remain stolen and vanilla farmers living in constant fear for their livelihood. Some measures have been taken, such as stamping each vanilla bean with the farm's serial code. But in reality, this hike has done more damage to the producers than any good (and of course the pastry chefs and natural perfumers aren't enjoying it either). Despite the grim predictions in 2017 that vanilla bean production (and prices) will be problematic for about seven years, and forecast now seems more optimistic. Additionally, more countries who can and have grown vanilla (some in Africa, such as Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameron, and Nigeria; and India and Indonesia in Asia; and even Mexico) - are taking advantage of this gap and finding new markets. This is hopefully solving a problem that is not to blame on this one cyclone only. In reality, Madagascar's monopoly on vanilla was threatened by other poor crops since 2014. And it has for many years been a goldmine for various opportunists who use vanilla as a money-laundering channel, for example: illegal Madagascan rosewood traders would dispose of their cash by purchasing vanilla beans, a commodity in much demand that can easily be sold to about a dozen of intermediaries who distribute it world-wide. 
However, this cyclone's stark results has forced the world to take a closer look at the corruption surrounding the vanilla trade (as well as other commodities, such as cacao and coffee beans), and take more responsibility over how its done. It is a tragically ridiculous situation, when crops get such high prices and the communities who farm them are still living in extreme poverty and are increasingly threatened by crime.
Vanilla is a climbing orchid native to Mexico and Central America, and is the only orchid whose extract is used for its fragrance in perfumery (other "orchid" fragrances are usually manmade compounds, either imaginary or "fantasy" floral formulas, or based on real-life by using headspace technology - which recreates the scent the flower emits from synthetic molecules). Vanilla grows like a vine and needs to climb on a structure to come to its full potential of flowers and fruit. It may appear to be a parasite, because it supports itself on tree trucks with tiny and very strong hooks - but in fact it does not rely on the tree for nourishment, which it derives honestly from the soil and sun.  
Vanilla flowers are greenish-yellow in colour, with a diameter of 5 cm (2 in). The bloom only for a day, providing a very short window for pollination in the morning hours, in order for them to bear fruit. In their natural habitat in Mexico, the flowers are pollinated by the Mellipona bee - a tiny insect with very long trunks, who transfer the pollen from one part of the flowers to another (the anther to the stigma). The insect provide only a 1% pollination rate among the flowers - the remaining 99% drop to the ground the next day. This scientific discovery was made in 1836 by the Belgian botanist Charles Morren. He also tried, to develop a pollination alternative that will make vanilla a commercially-viable crop, but to no avail. His technique was too cumbersome. 

In commercially grown vanilla, the flowers need to be hand-pollinated even in its native country - because one cannot count on minuscule bees to do all the pollination and let the rare flowers go to waste. The technique for hand-pollination was developed in 1841 by Edmond Albius, a slave boy in the Réunion. He was only 12 years old at a time, and found a simple and quick solution using a blade of grass and his thumb to do the job. He remained a slave until 1848, when the French laws were changed and banned slavery. His ingenuity and contribution to the cultivation of vanilla (and as a result to perfumery and flavouring, and the entire world of pastry) was recognized and even gave him clemency after being five years in prison (to which he was sentenced after being caught stealing jewellery in his new job as a kitchen servant). However, he did not receive enough recognition and died in poverty at the age of 51.

The fruit grows only in plants that reached maturity and are over 3 m long. The fruit looks similar to tiny bananas or green string beans - but are not beans at all. They would mature on the plant only after 8-9 months of growth, but are picked at 5 when still green, and undergo a curing process that was learned from the First Nations of Mexico. Although vanilla curing methods around the world vary, they all contain several steps, which essentially are:

Killing: Stopping the plant's growth and encouraging the beginning of enzymatic action. Various methods are used, including heating in water, freezing and scratching - each of these produces slightly different aroma profile as it puts different enzymes to work. 

Sweating: hydrolytic and oxidative process in which the fruit is kept tightly packed and insulated as to keep the temperatures at around 45-65 degrees celsius. In order to do so, the fruit may be dipped in hot water or exposed to the sun. By the end of the sweating process (which is really a type of fermentation), the beans will gain the characteristic brown colour, but will still be too moist (about 60-70% water).  This process takes between 7-10 days. 

Drying: In the drying process, the beans will lose moisture down to only 25-30% of their weight. This process helps preserve the vanilla beans' aroma, and prevent them from spoilage. This process is the most sensitive, in which much of the vanillin can get lost from uneven drying. To prevent this, extra care is taken and the beans are constantly monitored for changes needed in their environment - they are moved from sun to shade, and being exposed to the air in various ways to ensure their quality remains consistent. This process may take several weeks. 

Conditioning: After all this process, the beans need to be stored for additional 5-6 months in closed boxes, and this is where they develop their final fragrance and aroma. Good beans should have about 2.5% vanillin content. 

Grading: Once ready, the beans are graded, sorted, bundled and wrapped to preserve their qualities. Grading systems vary, and include attention to the beans length, thickness, appearance (colour, sheen,  pliability which shows moisture content, blemishes, etc.). The highest grades are kept whole. The beans with blemishes or "defects" are treated to remove those visible, or if they are too dry they are saved for preparations in which appearance is not as important - i.e.: vanilla extract, vanilla paste. In fact, the drier vanilla beans are far more suitable for tincturing (producing vanilla extract), as they don't have water content to weaken the alcohol's solvent powers. 

Vanillin Crystals
Constituents: 1.3-2.9% vanillin, hydroxybenzaldehyde, acetic acid, acetaldehyde, isobutyric acid, caprice acid, eugenol, furfural, hexanoic acid, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, methyl cinnamate plus over 150 more molecules in trace amounts. Tahitian vanilla (Vanilla tahitinesis) would have a different chemical structure, much lower in vanillin. 

Vanillin (4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde) is a perhaps the most important component which gives cured vanilla and its product the characteristic flavor and aroma. Vanillin was first isolated from vanilla pods by Gobley in 1858. By 1874, it had been obtained from glycosides of pine tree sap, temporarily causing a drop in prices of natural vanilla. Vanillin can be easily synthesized from several sources, but most food-grade vanillin (which must be > 99% pure) is made of guaiacol - usually created by the pyrolysis of lignin (a by-product of the paper industry). 

Physical appearance & characteristics: Thick, dark brown, viscous liquid with vanillin crystals often forming, particularly in cooler temperatures. Powdery granular white particles typically float inside the dark fluid, but as the temperatures drop, it will become increasingly difficult to pour and white “needles” of the vanillin crystals will form inside the “empty” part of the container. In this scenario, a bain-marie is recommended to return the vanilla absolute to its pourable and more workable state. 

Odour description: Sweet memories of licking vanilla ice cream, discovering vanilla extract at my grandmother’s kitchen, baking cheesecake and other grandmotherly associations, scraping vanilla beans. Vanilla has a balsamic, rich aroma with a woody hint, very strong (it behaves like 5 fold its actual presence) - a little goes a long way. 

Volatility rate: Base note and a fixative 

Note Vanilee (Vanilla Notes)

Roles in perfumery: Fits with everything, as long as it’s not overdone - in which case it will dominate! Remember, every time you're adding vanilla, imagine you're adding 5 times the actual amount. Vanilla absolute is a key component in amber bases, ambreine accord, Ambery Orientals, in flavouring tobacco and giving tobacco fragrances their characteristic deep-sweet nuance. In Fougère vanilla absolute proves very useful in smoothing out the rough edges of all the herbaceous notes, and sweetening the bitterness of the oakmoss and coumarin notes. 


Vanilla in Flavour: Vanilla is the world's most popular ice cream flavour, and is used in the confectionary world almost in the same way salt is used in the savoury one. 

Perfumery Uses/Blending Tips:
Vanilla goes with everything, but in particularly shines when paired with tonka beans, orris butter, leather notes, sandalwood, rose, frankincense, galbanum absolute, labdanum, styrax, bergamot, yang ylang, tuberose, tobacco, mandarin, sweet orange, blood orange, vetiver, oakmoss, patchouli and lavender (so no wonder it’s included in Fougère course). 

Vanilla may seem tame and agreeable, but in fact it fortifies itself overtime and can take over a blend. Keep in mind that whichever amount you put is equivalent to 5x vanilla. Which is a good thing - because vanilla is a very popular and costly material. If you find vanilla overbearing even in its tiniest amounts, consider using vanilla tincture instead, from the cured vanilla pods. Recipe for doing so appears in my book (formula 10.1.4). 





Examples: Shalimar (Guerlain), L (Lolita Lempicka), Immortelle l’Amour and Espionage (Ayala Moriel)

Formula 10.1.4 Vanilla Tincture 
36 g Vanilla Pods (about 16-18 pods)
100 mL Alcohol
Split the pods lengthwise and scrape the “seeds.” Finely chop the pods. Put in a jar and cover with alcohol. Shake frequently. Ready for filtering after a minimum of 1 month.
This is more concentrated than vanilla extract used in cooking and baking, but less concentrated than a 50% dilution of vanilla absolute, so it can give a nice, subtle woody-vanilla effect without being overpoweringly sweet.



Cured: The Science & Art of Decay

Orris Root

The challenge of some raw materials is that they might be rather unpleasant in their original state. At best, they lack any aroma and depth whatsoever. The cure for that lies in a process called curing (pun intended). Curing takes many shapes and forms. Sometimes the process is long and at times it's rather short. Either way, the results are nothing short of magic that tantalizes the palate and the olfactory bulbs!

We've all heard of curing meats and tobacco leaves, and it's common knowledge that wine gets better with age. But the culinary world is not the only one that benefits from time and fermentation. For some fragrant crops, growing and harvesting them is only a tiny portion of the process to make them edible, smellable or worth any mention at all. The starting material may be extremely stinky, bitter, astringent, or just plain flavourless at best. The processes by which the desired result is achieved is usually referred to as "curing" or "aging". It ranges from a few days, weeks or months and up to several years. The extra time and care that is invested in those crops makes all the difference in the world. And this will be evident and felt in the raw material itself as well as the finished product where it will be used - in our case, perfume.

Several aromatic botanicals used in perfumery require a fair amount of processing before being used (or extracted). For example: vanilla beans must be left in the sun to cure to bring out the vanillin; patchouli leaves must be dried and matured for quite some time to improve their scent; and iris rhizomes must be peeled, dried and stored for 3 years before they are extracted to produce orris butter.  Let's explore some of these unusual raw materials in more detail, as they specifically relate to the world of perfume and aromatics:

Oakmoss

Oakmoss (Evernia prunastri) actually is a lichen native to former Yugoslavia, and which also grows in the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest. You may know it under the name Antlered Perfum; however, it is practically odourless when found fallen on the forest floor. Once placed in hot alcohol, and undergoes a process of extraction - a fragrance that personifies the aroma of the forest floor's dark and mysterious hidden life emerges - fungi, decay, moss and undergrowth. No wonder Chypre, the most beloved fragrance family that relies on oakmoss, is strongly associated with fall.
Perfumes that give oakmoss its proper due are far and few - so reach out for vintage of Miss Dior,  Vol de Nuit or Chamade; or check out some of my Chypre (and Fougère) fragrances, namely Ayalitta, Megumi, Rainforest and Autumn.

Chawan with Matcha

Tea is so unusually diverse - there are white, yellow, green, blue (AKA oolong), red and black teas - that it's hard to believe it comes from only one plant: Camellia sinensis. It is the process of  curing - namely, oxidation, fermentation, roasting, and sometimes even smoking, that creates the unique effects of texture, aroma and nuanced flavours in tea. Some teas are even left to age for decades and up to a hundred years!
Tea leaves come in all sizes, shapes and forms, at times they are twisted to break the cells and release the enzymes that will start the oxidation process (as in oolong teas), other times they are rolled into little balls (dragon pearls or jasmine pearls), hand-tied to look like a flower that will open its "petals" once steeped in water, to reveal a colourful real flower in the heart, and many other ancient traditions involving teas. In perfume, we use tea notes rarely, because they are so subtle. The first "tea" perfume was Bulgari's Au Parfumeé au Thé Vert (which utilized ionone in conjunction with hedione to create the effect of freshly steeped green tea) and the series continued to even include a "red tea" scent based on rooibos (not from the tea plant).  But my favourite is, not surprisingly, the Bulgari Black, which is based on Lapsang Suchong (pine-smoked tea), and even more so - l'Artisan Parfumeur's Tea for Two, which is a more refined play on the same tea leaf. If you're a tea love, taste a sip of Kinmokusei, our osmanthus-scented tea with hints of tobacco, Gaucho (with the tannin South American Maté) or The Purple Dress (black tea).


Tobacco Flowers

Few other ingredients stir the imagination as much as tobacco. The raw leaves have a bitter taste and not a particularly pleasant smell either. After all, nicotine, the substance that gives tobacco most of its medicinal (and addictive) properties, is meant to protects it from insects. Although the raw leaves have medicinal uses, it is hardly the sophisticated aromatic that we have learned to recognize as tobacco. This is achieved via a careful drying process that takes several days to a week, and usually followed by an additional fermentation period of about 8 weeks. This will develop the characteristic tannin,  full-bodied chocolate-vanilla undertones and hints of coumarin, violet and tea notes in tobacco products that some of us are so fond of (or hooked on). Additionally, tobacco leaves are treated with various perfume and flavour materials to enhance and accentuate this character. If you like your tobacco leaf clean and dry - try Sabotage  The tobacco in or Rebellius is exotic and spicy-sweet, not unlike shisha,  To experience pipe tobacco or Cuban cigar in all their glory, dab some Espionage.

Patchouli Leaves

Patchouli leaves, an odd member of the mint family, do not smell like much when they're green and fresh. The sun-dried leaves are ideally stacked and occasionally turned in a process of interrupted fermentation. This way they will yield 2.5-3 times more oil than the green leaves. This process helps to rupture the cell walls and release the oil. However, that is not sufficient to develop their charactesritic aroma of patchouli. Exceptional patchouli oils undergo an additional step of aging, in which all the off notes (grassy, oily, tar-like) dissipate and make room for rounded, warm precious-wood aroma that you'll find in fine quality patchoulis - which can take another 1-4 years. Patchouli really does get better with age, and when this desired effect is achieve - the scent will remind one of both dark red wine, oak barrels and the cellar where it is kept. Patchouli is earthy, woody, musky, a tad funky, spicy and dark-chocolate-like. Examples of this can be found in  Patchouli Magique and Patchouli AntiqueFilm NoirRazala, and Palas Atena (Ayala Moriel).

Ambergris

Ambergris is a rare secretion that occurs in about 1% of sperm whales to heal their stomach from the scratches of the cuttlefish they swallow. This sticky mass floats on the ocean, and by exposure to the sun and the salty water it changes its originally foul smell into one of the most delicate and sought after fragrances: Ambergris. Ambergris is sweet, soft and slightly powdery. We use ambergris only occasionally – when we can find ethically harvested ambergris that was beach harvested. It is than tinctured and used as a base note in oriental and floral compositions. Best scents to experience this though are LesNez' mystical l'Antimatiere  by Isabelle Doyen; and my own Orcas, Etrog and Razala.

IMG_8605

Orris Root: Orris root essential oil (AKA Orris Butter) is one of the most precious perfume materials. The roots need to be peeled and aged for three years before extraction or distillation. During this time, the glucosides in the rhizome gradually metabolize into irone - the violet-like molecule that gives orris root its desired violet-blossom aroma. It is invaluable in perfumery for its delicate powdery delicate aroma and ability to fix lighter scents. Orris is a welcome addition to any perfume whenever a delicate softness is required. Orris butter is both powdery, milky and smooth - reminiscent of a baby’s head and soft skin. Experience the highest quality of orris, with 15% irone (the unique orris molecule) in Sahleb parfum. For a lighter, paper-thin iris, try Hiris, and for a more sophisticated, abstract, modern yet old-fashioned you must experience Après l'Ondée!

Iris (Iris pallida)

Coumarin has may sources, and in all of them, it is not felt all that much in the original product but only appears after a process of drying or curing takes place. Tonka is soaked in rum and then dried, to coax the coumarin crystals out of the "beans". Liatrix (deer's tongue) smells like nothing when it's fresh, and like hay - needs to be dried and even slightly fermented to bring out the coumarin potential locked within them, which smells like "new mown hay". Classic coumarin examples are YerbamateBiche Dans l'Absinthe. and Brut. To experience natural coumarin try l'Herbe Rouge, Sabotage or White Potion.

Climbing Vanilla Orchids, Patchouli and Vetiver

Vanilla Beans are left to cure in the sun so that they turn from green to black and develop their vanillin content. But vanillin is only one component that makes vanilla so special. In reality, this is one of the most compelling and complex natural aroma, inimitable by any manmade compounds.  Some 100 molecules were identified in vanilla (Vanilla planifolia), in addition to vanillin (4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde), including: Guaicol, creosol, acetovanillone, vanillyl alcohol and methyl salicylate and vitispiranes.
Tahitian vanilla (Vanilla tahitensis) has a much lower content of vanillin, and has a scent reminiscent of heliotropin - but contrary to some literature, this is not a compound that naturally occurs in it. Rather, it's the anisyl compounds that are responsible for its soft, floral, almond-like, sweet heliotrope-like nuances, including anisyl alcohol, anisaldehyde, dianisyl ether and anisyl ethyl ether. (Bo Jensen). To experience true vanilla absolute in perfume, try Shalimar (the extrait has handcrafted vanilla tincture), My Vanilla (Anna Zworykina),  Vanille Galante (Hermessences), Espionage and Immortelle l'Amour (the latter has 5 types of vanilla, including absolute, CO2 and handmade tinctures by yours truly).


Back to the top