Vanilla: The History of an Extraordinary Bean

by Eric T. Jennings

The fascinating and wide-ranging history of vanilla, from the sixteenth century to today

Vanilla is one of the most expensive of flavorings—so valuable that it was smuggled or stolen by pirates in the early days—and yet it is ubiquitous. It is a key ingredient in dishes ranging from crème brûlée to Japanese purin. It is the quintessential ice cream flavor in the United States. Eric T. Jennings explains how the world’s only edible orchid, originally endemic to Central America, became embedded in the international culinary and cultural landscape.

In tracing vanilla’s rise, Jennings describes how in the 1840s an enslaved boy named Edmond Albius discovered a way to pollinate vanilla orchids with a toothpick or needle—an ingenious process that is still in use. This method transformed the vanilla sector by enabling the plant to be grown outside of its natural range. Jennings also looks at how the vanilla craze led to the search for now-pervasive substitutes, and how the vanilla lobby has fought back. He further unravels how vanilla—the world’s most expensive crop and once considered its most refined fragrance—came to mean “bland.”

This tale of botany, production techniques, consumption habits, and colonial rivalry connects the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, revealing how vanilla has become a potent symbol of the modern global village.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Audiobook

312 pages, Hardcover

First published August 26, 2025

About the author

Eric Jennings’ areas of interest include 19th and 20th century France, French colonialism, decolonization, and the francophone world.

In 2001, he published Vichy in the Tropics (Stanford University Press, translated into French with Grasset in 2004 under the title Vichy sous les tropiques), a book derived from his Berkeley thesis that explored the ultra-conservative and authoritarian Vichy regime’s colonial politics in the French Caribbean, Indochina, and Madagascar. Curing the Colonizers (Duke University Press, 2006, translated into French as A la Cure les Coloniaux! PUR, 2011) was situated at the crossroads of the histories of colonialism, medicine, culture, leisure, and tourism. His Dalat and the Making and Undoing of French Indochina (University of California Press, 2011, translated into French with Payot as La ville de l’éternel printemps, 2013) is a multi-angled study of the major French colonial hill station in Southeast Asia. Its focus lies on place, power, and colonial fault lines. His book on French Equatorial Africa and Cameroon under Free French rule, entitled La France libre fut africaine, appeared with Perrin in 2014, and is being translated into English with Cambridge University Press. It considers the centrality of sub-Saharan Africa for the early Fighting French movement, paying special attention to issues of legitimacy and coercion. His other publications include an edited volume with Jacques Cantier, L’Empire colonial sous Vichy (Odile Jacob, 2004), as well as many articles and chapters straddling the histories of France, Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, Africa, and the Caribbean.

Jennings has received a John Simon Guggenheim fellowship (2014), SSHRC and CIHR grants, the Alf Heggoy and Jean-François Coste book prizes as well as the Palmes académiques.

Reviews

[Lisa Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who knew that lowly vanilla had such a tumultuous history. The story of the difficult to grow spice is full of heroes and villains, violent upheavals and treachery. So how did this most exotic, sought-after delicacy become the very definition of boring? Read VANILLA to find out!

[Vanessa Olson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one ended up being a bit of a slog for me. While it’s definitely an interesting story, this book is too long. I also deducted one star for the last chapter’s insistence on making 2020 part of the story- a personal pet peeve of mine when it comes to nonfiction books.

[Periplus Bookshop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mendalami jejak salah satu rempah paling harum sekaligus paling kontroversial di dunia—vanili—serta perjalanannya dari hutan-hutan Mesoamerika ke dapur-dan pasar global, buku ini membawa pembaca menelusuri beragam dimensi: botani, teknik produksi, sejarah kolonialisme, hingga ekonomi rasa modern. Penulis secara detail mengungkap bagaimana vanilla dulunya dianggap barang mewah yang langka—diselundupkan atau dicuri oleh bajak laut—namun lambat laun menjadi bagian kultural sehari-hari di banyak tempat, dari crème brûlée sampai puding Jepang. Salah satu bab paling menggetarkan adalah kisah Edmond Albius, seorang anak budak di Réunion, yang pada 1840-an menemukan metode penyerbukan manual menggunakan tusuk gigi atau jarum—teknik sederhana namun revolusioner yang membuat vanilla bisa dibudidayakan di luar habitat aslinya. Pembahasan juga menyentuh “krisis vanilla”—bagaimana permintaan tinggi menciptakan fluktuasi harga, penyalahgunaan tenaga kerja, serta munculnya pengganti sintetis yang kadang memperlemah reputasi cita rasa alami. Pendekatan penceritaan mencakup lanskap global: interaksi antara Atlantik, Pasifik, dan Hindia; persaingan antar kekuatan kolonial; serta bagaimana vanilla menjadi simbol globalisasi (dan sekaligus konflik). Gaya narasinya menarik, penuh data sejarah dan budaya, tapi tidak berat hingga membuat pembaca awam tersingkir—masih ada ruang untuk refleksi tentang etika konsumsi, keadilan bagi petani, dan kelestarian alam. Di akhir, pembaca akan keluar dengan apresiasi baru terhadap apa yang sering dianggap “rasa datar” tapi sebenarnya kaya akan cerita dan perjuangan. https://blog.periplus.com/2025/09/22/...

[Michaela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I expected this to be more like a Susan Orlean book. Finding it somewhat dry, I skimmed it. It was interesting and contained the usual Colonial and capitalistic skullduggery. I'm glad Edmond Albius' name wasn't completely lost to history, not that it did him that much good during his lifetime to be the first commercially profitable vanilla orchid pollinator. Classic that the U.S. embraced the vanillan whole-heartedly, in its apparent one-note wonder. Also interesting to learn the origin of "vanilla sex" as an insult, at least in the U.S.

Well, I hope this author and professor from the North got some lovely tropical trips out of his research.

[Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The history of vanilla is something I've never thought too much about, so it was great to find out that it makes for a fascinating topic.

This book is suitably academic without getting bogged down, and keeps up interest quite well. The author also does a good job at acknowledging the colonial history of vanilla whilst decolonising the narrative.

I bought a vanilla bean because of this book for the first time in ages.

[Carlos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jennings goes the long way around in writing an exhaustive history of this most common of flavors. While it is undisputedly well researched, down to 18th century shipping records to identify the path of its commercial spread, the reader will be forgiven for being exasperated by the space given to providing the biological, geographical, agronomical, and historical contexts. The prose is entirely accessibly to the general reader but perhaps not to one only cursorily interested in the topic.

[Elsie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I now know more about vanilla than I’ll ever need to but it was a very interesting read! Love it when my non-fiction readings overlapped and laughed when people accused artificial vanilla of food poisoning in early ice cream as this was discussed in Frosbite.

[Magnolia Flowers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libby pulled it back before I could finish, but it was interesting while it lasted.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and instructive book, even though some parts are a repetition of previous ones. But overall I really recommend it!

[Mary D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting information. Fascinating history.