© 2024 WLRN
MIAMI | SOUTH FLORIDA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
In South Florida, where the Everglades meet the bays, environmental challenges abound. Sea level rise threatens homes and real estate. Invasive species imperil native plants and animals. Pesticides reduce the risk of mosquito-borne diseases, but at what cost? WLRN's award-winning environment reporting strives to capture the color and complexity of human interaction with one of the most biodiverse areas of the planet.

Exotic New Crop Could Put Florida On World Spice Map. Yes, Vanilla Is Exotic — And Expensive

Pedro Portal
/
Miami Herald
Samples of cured Vanilla tahitensis from Ecuador, on top, and Vanilla pompona, grown in South Florida, part of a study at the University of Florida Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead on Thursday December 19, 2019.

Vanilla has an undeserved reputation for being blah, as in plain vanilla, the flavor for people who consider chocolate too daring.

The truth is a vanilla bean is an exotic thing — the only edible fruit of the orchid family — and an essential ingredient in a host of everyday favorites as well as holiday treats, from Christmas cookies to Hanukkah sufganiyot (fried donuts) to coquito, Miami’s superior upgrade of egg nog.

Most natural vanilla comes from Madagascar, or a few other foreign locations, and demand far outstrips supply. But University of Florida scientists believe South Florida has promise as a place to grow the plants that produce one of the world’s most popular flavors.

 
Read more from our news partner The Miami Herald.

More On This Topic