Vanilla: A Flavor from Orchids香草：來自蘭花的芬芳

“The farmers move quickly through snaking vines， seeking out the pale， waxy flowers that bloom just one morning each year. They use thin， pointed sticks to lift the delicate membrane that separates the male and female parts of the flower. With thumb and forefinger， they push the segments into each other to ensure pollination1.”

“農(nóng)人們快步穿過蜿蜒的藤蔓，去尋找那顏色蒼白、每年只開放一個(gè)早晨的蠟質(zhì)花朵。他們用尖細(xì)的小棒挑起隔開雄蕊和雌蕊的薄膜，用拇指和食指把兩邊的花蕊推攏，確保花朵授粉。”

If the union is successful， “the thick green base of the flower swells almost immediately，” as food writer Sarah Lohman2 writes in her book Eight Flavors. “The swollen base matures into a green fingerlike seedpod—a fruit—that ripens yellow and eventually splits at the end.”

如果授粉成功，“花朵厚實(shí)的綠色基部幾乎立刻開始膨脹。”美食作家薩拉·洛曼在她的作品《八種風(fēng)味》里寫道，“膨脹的花基發(fā)育成綠色的、狀若手指的種莢，那是它的果實(shí)。種莢成熟后呈黃色，最終會(huì)在末端開裂?！?/p>

To wait too long or to damage the plant during pollination is to lose a precious flower that could have matured into a pod. That’s a costly mistake for what has become one of the most beloved， lucrative spices in existence： vanilla3. Consumers’ insatiable appetite for this fragrant spice means that an estimated 18，000 products on the market contain vanilla flavor today， with prices for natural vanilla hovering around $300 per pound.

要是沒有及時(shí)授粉，或者授粉時(shí)破壞了植株，就會(huì)失去一朵珍貴的、原本可以結(jié)成豆莢的花。這樣的失誤代價(jià)昂貴，因?yàn)檫@可是迄今為止最受歡迎、最賺錢的香料植物之一——香莢蘭。這種芬芳的香料讓消費(fèi)者欲罷不能，以至于目前市場上有約18，000種含有香草風(fēng)味的產(chǎn)品，而天然香草的價(jià)格徘徊在每磅300美元上下。

The work of hand pollination is painstaking， but not new. Long before Europeans took to4 vanilla’s taste， the creeping vine grew wild in tropical forests throughout Mesoamerica5. While the Totonac people of modern-day Veracruz6， Mexico， are credited as the earliest growers of vanilla， the oldest reports of vanilla usage come from the pre-Columbian7 Maya. The Maya used vanilla in a beverage made with cacao and other spices. After conquering the Totonacan empire， the Aztecs followed suit8， adding vanilla to a beverage consumed by nobility and known as chocolatl9.

人工授粉的工作頗為辛苦，但并不新鮮。早在歐洲人迷上香草的美味之前，這種匍匐藤蔓就已在整個(gè)中美洲的熱帶森林里自然生長。盡管人們認(rèn)為居住在現(xiàn)今墨西哥韋拉克魯斯州的托托納克人是最早種植香莢蘭的人，但使用香草的最早記錄則來自前哥倫布時(shí)期的瑪雅人。他們?cè)谝环N用可可豆和其他香料混合制成的飲料中加入香草。阿茲特克人征服托托納克帝國后效法此方，將香草加入飲料，專供貴族享用，這種飲料被稱為“巧克拉特”。

The Spanish conquest of the Aztecs in 1519 brought the fragrant flower—and its companion， cacao—to Europe. Vanilla was cultivated in botanical gardens in France and England， but never offered up its glorious seeds. Growers couldn’t understand why until centuries later when， in 1836， Belgian horticulturist10 Charles Morren reported that vanilla’s natural pollinator was the Melipona bee11， an insect that didn’t live in Europe. （A recent study， however， suggests that Euglossine bees12 may actually be the orchid’s primary pollinator.）

1519年，西班牙人征服阿茲特克人，將這種芳香的花朵連同其伴侶可可豆一起帶回歐洲。香莢蘭開始在法國和英格蘭的植物園中得到培植，但它從未呈獻(xiàn)出自己高貴的種子。自那以后的幾個(gè)世紀(jì)里，種植者們都沒有找到原因，直到1836年比利時(shí)園藝學(xué)家夏爾·莫朗提出，香莢蘭的天然授粉者是無刺蜂，但這種昆蟲并未見于歐洲。（不過，最近的一項(xiàng)研究則認(rèn)為，這種蘭花的主要授粉者其實(shí)可能是蘭花蜂。）

Five years later， on the island of Réunion13， a 39-mile long volcanic hotspot in the Indian Ocean， everything changed. In 1841， an enslaved boy on the island named Edmond Albius developed the painstaking yet effective hand-pollination method for vanilla that is still in use today， which involves exposing and mating the flower’s male and female parts. His technique spread from Réunion to Madagascar and other neighboring islands， and eventually worked its way back to Mexico as a way to augment the vanilla harvest pollinated by bees.

五年后，在留尼汪島（印度洋上一處長達(dá)39英里的火山活躍區(qū)）上，一切發(fā)生了改變。1841年，一個(gè)名叫埃德蒙·阿爾比尤斯的奴隸男孩發(fā)明了給香莢蘭人工授粉的辦法：讓花朵的雄蕊和雌蕊暴露出來，并使兩者交配。這個(gè)方法頗為辛苦，但收效顯著，沿用至今。他的技術(shù)從留尼汪逐漸傳播到了馬達(dá)加斯加及其他臨近島嶼，最終傳回了墨西哥，作為對(duì)蜜蜂授粉的補(bǔ)充，增加香莢蘭的收成。

This proliferation helped whet the world’s appetite for vanilla. The spice quickly found its way into cakes and ice cream， perfumes and medicines， and was valued for its intoxicating flavor and aroma. But despite growing demand and a robust crop， the tremendous amount of time and energy that went into cultivation and processing affected farmers’ ability to supply the market—and continues to do so today. Nearly all of the vanilla produced commercially today is hand-pollinated.

香莢蘭的產(chǎn)量激增，令全世界都為它垂涎。很快這種香料就被用于蛋糕、冰淇淋、香水和藥物中，并因它那醉人的美味和芳香而備受珍視。但在不斷增產(chǎn)的需求和可觀的產(chǎn)量背后，香草的種植和加工過程卻要耗費(fèi)農(nóng)民大量的時(shí)間精力，始終影響著他們供給市場的能力。這種情況一直持續(xù)至今，因?yàn)閹缀跛猩虡I(yè)化種植的香莢蘭都要靠人工授粉。

“Vanilla requires a fair amount of skill to grow，” explains Tim McCollum， co-founder of Madécasse， a direct-trade chocolate and vanilla company. “You can’t just put seed in the ground， tend to it and expect it to produce a yield. Hand pollination is a learned skill. Many farmers have been growing vanilla for three to four generations. Smallholder farmers … have an absolute sixth sense as to when the orchids will bloom.”

“種植香莢蘭需要相當(dāng)高的技術(shù)含量?！瘪R達(dá)加斯加巧克力和香草直銷公司的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人蒂姆·麥科勒姆解釋說，“你不能只把種子埋進(jìn)地里，照顧照顧，就指望它能豐收了。人工授粉可是個(gè)技術(shù)活兒，很多農(nóng)民家里三四代都是種植香莢蘭的。那些小規(guī)模種植的農(nóng)民……靠著絕對(duì)的第六感就知道蘭花什么時(shí)候會(huì)開?！?/p>

Moreover， the vanilla aromas and flavors we know and love don’t reveal themselves until the crop is cured14 and dried. So it’s equally important to know to manage the plants once they bear fruit. After harvesting， McCollum explains， vanilla beans are sorted and graded. They’re then blanched15 in hot water to halt fermentation and placed in large containers to sweat for 36 to 48 hours. “It’s when the beans start to change from green to brown， and start to develop aroma，” he says.

此外，我們熟知和喜愛的那種香草的芳香和味道，要等豆莢經(jīng)過蒸曬和干燥之后才會(huì)顯露出來。所以一旦作物結(jié)果，知道如何處理也很重要。麥科勒姆解釋說，收獲后，要先將豆莢分類、分級(jí)，再將其放入熱水中短暫浸泡以中止發(fā)酵，然后把豆莢置于大容器中“發(fā)汗”36至48小時(shí)?！斑@時(shí)綠色的豆莢開始變?yōu)樽厣?，香味也隨之產(chǎn)生?！丙溈ɡ漳氛f。

From there， the beans undergo alternating periods of sun drying during the day and sweating at night， a journey that lasts between five and 15 days and ends with a period of slow drying. “This usually occurs indoors， in a well-ventilated room where beans are placed on racks，” McCollum says. “It can take up to 30 days， depending on the grade.” The entire process—from growing and pollinating to drying， curing and preparing for export—takes around one year.

之后，香草莢白天日曬、夜晚“發(fā)汗”，整個(gè)過程交替進(jìn)行5至15天，最后還要慢慢干燥一段時(shí)間?！斑@一步通常在室內(nèi)進(jìn)行，我們會(huì)找個(gè)通風(fēng)良好的房間，把豆莢放在架子上晾干?！丙溈评漳氛f，“根據(jù)豆莢等級(jí)不同，這個(gè)步驟最長可能需要30天的時(shí)間?！睆姆N植、授粉到干燥、蒸曬加工和準(zhǔn)備出口，整個(gè)過程大概一年之久。

But the reality is that very little of the vanilla we consume comes from those precious pods. Today， most of what we eat is actually artificial vanilla flavoring. In the late 19th century， scientists figured out how to derive vanillin16—the dominant compound that gives vanilla its signature aroma—from less expensive sources. Today， about 85 percent of vanillin comes from guaiacol17 that’s synthesized from petrochemicals18. This isn’t something many of us realize， because labeling can be confusing.

不過實(shí)際上，我們消費(fèi)的香草里，只有極少部分來自這些珍貴的豆莢。我們?nèi)缃袷秤玫拇蟛糠帧跋悴荨倍际侨斯ぶ瞥傻南悴菹憔?9世紀(jì)晚期，科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)了如何從相對(duì)低廉的原料中提取香草醛（賦予香草標(biāo)志性芳香的主要化合物）。今天，大約85%的香草醛都提取自用石油化學(xué)物質(zhì)合成的愈創(chuàng)木酚。這事情大多數(shù)人都不知道，因?yàn)槭澄飿?biāo)簽往往含糊其辭。

In short， vanilla is the plant. Vanillin is one of up to 250 chemical compounds that make up the flavor we know as vanilla. So what’s the distinction？ Real extract is thicker and darker in color， and speckled with seed fragments. Vanillin produced naturally in the bean varies from place to place which results in different flavor profiles. Imitation vanillin extracted from lignin19 or guaiacol is very standard， rather than distinct.

簡而言之，“香草”是這種植物，“香草醛”則是一種化合物，我們所熟知的香草風(fēng)味是由包括香草醛在內(nèi)的多達(dá)250種化合物構(gòu)成的。那兩者有什么區(qū)別呢？真正的香草提取物質(zhì)地更濃、顏色更深，布滿斑斑點(diǎn)點(diǎn)的香草籽碎片。在豆莢中天然形成的香草醛根據(jù)產(chǎn)地不同，生成的風(fēng)味也各有特色。提取自木質(zhì)素或者愈創(chuàng)木酚的人工合成香草醛，香型則固定統(tǒng)一，彼此毫無分別。

Right now， this demand for inexpensive vanilla flavoring comes with an environmental cost. According to research in the American Chemical Society’s journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research， the production of these compounds “creates a stream of wastewater that requires treatment before it can be released into surface water … catalysts currently used in the manufacturing of vanillin are polluting and can only be used one time.” In response， the authors have developed a new catalyst that separates out the vanillin but removes the polluting step. This catalyst could theoretically be re-used and， they hope， lead to more environmentally-friendly ways of manufacturing the alluring compound.

為了滿足當(dāng)今世界對(duì)廉價(jià)香草香精的需求，我們付出了環(huán)境的代價(jià)。美國化學(xué)學(xué)會(huì)期刊《工業(yè)與工程化學(xué)研究》刊登的一項(xiàng)研究表明，這些化合物的生產(chǎn)過程“會(huì)產(chǎn)生源源不斷的廢水，這些廢水必須經(jīng)過處理，才能排入地表水中……目前用于生產(chǎn)香草醛的催化劑會(huì)造成污染，還只能利用一次”。為此，文章作者開發(fā)了一種新型催化劑。用它能夠分離出香草醛，并且去除污染環(huán)節(jié)。這種催化劑理論上可以循環(huán)使用，研究者們希望它能夠帶來新的生產(chǎn)方式，讓生產(chǎn)香草醛這種誘人化合物的過程變得更加環(huán)保。

So is the answer to move away from real vanilla， and toward more environmentally friendly ways of scaling up production of artificial vanilla？ Assuming that we consumers are content with a simple vanilla flavor， perhaps. But we will undoubtedly lose something in the process.

那么，逐步放棄真正的香莢蘭，轉(zhuǎn)而以更環(huán)保的方式擴(kuò)大人工香草醛的生產(chǎn)，會(huì)是我們的答案嗎？如果我們消費(fèi)者能滿足于一種單一的香草風(fēng)味，或許答案是肯定的。但在此過程中，我們也無疑會(huì)有所失去。

1 pollination 授粉。 2美國歷史學(xué)家。其作品《八種風(fēng)味：美國菜的秘史》（Eight Flavors： The Untold Story of American Cuisine）考據(jù)了美式菜肴中最常見的八種口味及其發(fā)展史。

3香莢蘭，又稱香草、香子蘭等。 4 take to 喜歡上。 5 Mesoamerica中美洲。 6位于墨西哥東部沿海地區(qū)。 7 pre-Columbian 又稱印第安時(shí)期，指美洲在明顯受到來自歐洲文化影響前的歷史時(shí)期。 8 follow suit 照做。 9納瓦特語詞匯，意思是“苦水”。這個(gè)詞是chocolate的詞源。

10 horticulturist園藝學(xué)家。 11無刺蜂屬，廣泛分布于熱帶地區(qū)。 12蘭花蜂族，主要分布在中南美洲熱帶地區(qū)。 13位于印度洋西南部，臨近馬達(dá)加斯加島。

14 cure（用熏、腌等方法）加工貯藏。 15 blanch 焯水，在熱水中短暫浸泡。

16 vanillin香草醛，又稱香蘭素、香草精等。 17 guaiacol愈創(chuàng)木酚。 18 petrochemical 石油化學(xué)物質(zhì)。

19 lignin木質(zhì)素。