I Just Learned What Vanilla Is Really Made From, And I Get Why It's So Expensive

It's second only to saffron.

We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about the fact that cloves and capers are both technically flower buds, while figs are technically inverted flowers.

(Don’t even get me started on their horrific historic relationship with wasps).

So, what about vanilla, which comes in a pod? I’ve never quite been sure whether it counts as a fruit, a vegetable, bean, or something else – never mind how it’s actually grown.

Where does vanilla come from?

Vanilla beans are not actually beans – they’re really the unripe fruit of an orchid. So, vanilla itself is a fruit.

The pods grow on the climbing plant of the flower’s vine. This long, thin fruit can grow up to 20cm long and can take up to........

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