Tag: Edmond Albius

Vanillanomics or the Economy surrounding Vanilla

On By Dr. Y.In Great Economy3 Comments
Vanilla1
Vanilla

The term Vanillanomics is not from me, but from the article below on Bloomberg. I just wanted to let you in on the Vanilla trade, and more. Sad to note that these very rich regions, i.e. rich in vanilla are always in the most remote, poorest, and inaccessible areas of the country. This is the same throughout Africa, whether you are talking about the cobalt of DRC which is lifted from its mines by special planes bypassing the national airports, or the cocoa of Côte d’Ivoire, or the diamonds of Sierra Leone, or even the coffee of Cameroon… and much more. Enjoy! The full article can be found on Bloomberg Business Week.

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First, we needed a 4×4 of some sort, along with a driver willing to chance roads that are sometimes passable, sometimes not. The man we found struck us as the quietly skeptical sort, but after a few hundred rutted kilometers, any hesitations he’d been suppressing hardened into emphatic certainties. “The only people who drive on this road,” he told our photographer and me, via our translator, “are people who want to kill their cars.” Yet he gamely pushed ever deeper into Madagascar’s tropical north, until our mud road descended a hill and was swallowed by a wide river. It was the end of the line for the driver. He seemed relieved.

Madagascar
Madagascar

Somewhere on the other side of that water, dozens of farmers would soon converge upon a regional vanilla market in the village of Tanambao Betsivakiny. Growers would negotiate with buyers working on behalf of exporters and international flavoring companies, and together everyone would hash out a collective, per-kilogram price for the crop. Most buyers would pay cash on the spot, and the farmers would hand over several tons of green, freshly harvested vanilla beans.

Those humble beans, whose essence is associated with all that’s bland and unexciting, have somehow metamorphosed, butterfly-style, into the most flamboyantly mercurial commodity on the planet. In the past two decades, cured vanilla beans have been known to fetch almost $600 per kilogram one week, then $20 or so the next. Northeastern Madagascar is the world’s largest producer of natural vanilla, so every boom and every bust slams this region like a tropical storm. When prices peak, cash floods the villages. When prices fall, it drains away.

Madagascar_Vanilla
Vanilla bean

Madagascar was largely integrated into global trade centuries ago. The island is bigger than France, with cultural traditions that vary by region, unique biological treasures, and a developing tourism economy. The capital, Antananarivo, is full of laborers, lawyers, bureaucrats, bankers, artists, entrepreneurs, intellectuals—everything a 21st century city of 1.5 million needs. Yet Madagascar is also one of the poorest countries on the planet. You see and feel its disparities most sharply in its more remote pockets, including in the vanilla-growing region of the northeast. The extreme isolation of those communities, their dominance over the international supply, the dramatic changes they undergo during price swings—all of it has turned this part of the country into a semicontained observation lab that exposes both the genius and the insanity of globalized commerce. …

Vanilla: Madagascar’s Gold

On By Dr. Y.In Great Economy5 Comments
Albius_5
Vanilla

I really enjoyed last week’s The Guardian’s Photojournal on vanilla trade in Madagascar. I did not know that so much was involved in getting that marvelous spice that I often add to my cakes. As a flashback, the process of pollination of vanilla was invented by a 12 years old Black slave from the island of Bourbon (Réunion): Edmond Albius.  His technique allowed for the pollinating of the vanilla orchids quickly and profitably.  Albius’s technique revolutionized the cultivation of vanilla and made it possible to profitably grow vanilla beans away from their native Mexico. Today, vanilla is the world’s most popular flavor, and surging demand has recently made the spice more expensive than silver; its aroma finds its way into cakes, perfumes, and all delicacies around the globe.

Albius_6
Bottle of Vanilla

This Guardian’s photojournal focuses on the people working the plantations of vanilla and hustling it in  Sambava, Madagascar, dubbed the Vanilla Capital of the world. Today, three quarters of the global vanilla crop is produced in this region, with 2,000 tons being exported from there. The photojournal shows the vanilla hustlers like never before. Despite the expense, vanilla is highly valued for its flavor. So, as you enjoy your vanilla ice cream, or add its delectable aroma into your cakes, or enjoy it in perfumes or aromatherapy, remember the island of Madagascar, and its vanilla hustlers.  Enjoy The Guardian’s Photojournal on vanilla trade!

Edmond Albius, the Slave who launched the Vanilla Industry

On By Dr. Y.In Great People, Great Science23 Comments
Edmond Albius
Edmond Albius

Today I would like to talk about the man who invented the process of pollination of vanilla when he was only 12 years of age: the Reunionese Edmond Albius.  His technique allowed for the pollinating of the vanilla orchids quickly and profitably.  Albius’s technique revolutionized the cultivation of vanilla and made it possible to profitably grow vanilla beans away from their native Mexico.

Vanilla flowers
Vanilla flowers

Edmond Albius, at the time of his discovery was a slave, who was born in Sainte-Suzanne in 1829, on the island of Bourbon (modern-day Réunion).  He was orphaned from birth, as he lost his mother and never knew his father.  Later, his master sent him to work with Fereol Bellier-Beaumont who initiated him into horticulture, and then botany.  Albius spent most of his time following Beaumont around the estate as tended to his plants.  Beaumont later wrote  about Albius, that “this young black boy became my constant companion, a favorite child always at my feet.”

Bottle of Vanilla
Bottle of Vanilla

French colonists brought vanilla beans to Réunion in the 1820s with the hope of starting production there.  However, the vines were sterile because no insect would pollinate them.  In the 1830s, Charles Morren, a professor of botany at the University of Liège in Belgium, developed a method of hand-pollinating vanilla, but his technique was slow and required too much effort to make cultivating vanilla a money-making proposition.  Albius discovered in 1841 the practical process for the pollination of vanilla, a process which has revolutionized the culture of this almost ubiquitous spice.  He discovered how to quickly pollinate the vanilla orchid with a thin stick or blade of grass and a simple thumb gesture.  With the stick or grass blade, field hands lift the rostellum, the flap that separates the male anther from the female stigma, and then, with their thumbs, smear the sticky pollen from the anther over the stigma.   Albius’s manual pollination method is still used today, as nearly all vanilla is pollinated by hand.  His discovery thereby allowed the Island of Reunion to become for a while, the largest world supplier of vanilla, and the cradle for the diffusion of his process.

Vanilla
Vanilla

Since this discovery was made by a child, who was black, and a slave, the invention was quickly contested by all the jealous people.  The unscrupulous botanist Jean-Michel-Claude Richard would pretend to have taught the technique to the slave Albius three or four years earlier.  The lie will reach its paroxysm when at the beginning of the 20th century, the French press will go as far as claiming that Edmond Albius was white.  Albius eventually gained his freedom with the abolition of slavery in 1848, but will not get any financial benefit from his invention which made the fortune of planters and of the French economy. He died in misery in 1880.

As you enjoy vanilla aromas in cakes, perfumes, and all those delicacies, don’t forget to celebrate the genius of Edmond Albius as well, and read Voices to learn more.