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Vanilla: The History of an Extraordinary Bean

byEric T. Jennings

Eric T. Jennings follows vanilla from a tropical orchid pollinated in Mesoamerica to one of the world's most familiar and misunderstood flavors. The history travels through Indigenous cultivation, European empire, slavery, botanical science, piracy, hand pollination, synthetic substitutes, and modern commerce. Farmers and traders reveal the extraordinary labor and risk hidden behind an ingredient often used as a synonym for plainness. Jennings shows how changing technologies and tastes created a global commodity whose sweetness is inseparable from colonial power, ecological vulnerability, human ingenuity, and persistent struggles over value.

Publisher

Yale University Press

Publication date

2025-08-26

Format

Hardcover

Pages

312

ISBN

9780300264531