01/12/2023
This is a Mexican melipona bee, the only bee in the world that is capable of pollinating vanilla orchids, thus producing vanilla beans.
Without them, vanilla would have never existed!
The Totonacs of Mexico's east coast are believed to be the first group of people to cultivate the vanilla orchid for their fruit around the 12th century.
The Aztecs acquired vanilla when they conquered the Totonacs in the 15th Century; the Spanish, in turn, got it when they conquered the Aztecs.
It was the Spanish who were responsible for taking vanilla to Europe as a discovery from the new world and were also responsible for transplanting the cuttings of the vines in other tropical reigons of the world as they expanded their empire.
The vines grew in these parts of the world but did not bear any fruits.
Belgian botanist, Charles Morren concluded that this was because the Melipone Bee (native to Mexico), could not live anywhere else in the world. This bee was the only source of pollination for the vanilla orchid, so the practice of hand-pollination began.
The next time you buy a vanilla pod that has not been grown in the wilderness of Mexico, the chances are that it is hand-pollinated.
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