Vanilla Bean
Vanilla planifolia

Ice cream, pudding, cake, candy, baked goods, and sodas ... life in America just wouldn't be the same without vanilla. Early 16th century Aztecs of Central America are to be thanked for introducing vanilla to Spanish explorers, who then took it back to Europe. The climbing vine which gives us vanilla beans (or pods) is a type of orchid that can be pollinated only by hummingbirds and special bees when grown in its natural environment. The rate of pollination is very low — only about one percent of these vanilla flowers produce pods — so commercial production of vanilla relies on growers pollinating the vanilla flowers by hand so that the pods will develop. The leading producer of vanilla is Madagascar, an island off the southeast coast of Africa.

Commonly called: vanilla bean, vanilla