V is for VANILLA ANYTHING and EVERYTHING #AtoZChallenge

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

My daily #AtoZ posts combine two concepts in under-300-words per day:

an appealing food choice along with thoughts that spring to mind.

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Vanilla is a flavor derived from orchids. The vanilla orchid is a vine-like plant that grows up trees. Most vanilla today comes from Madagascar and the island of Réunion. The rest comes from Mexico and Tahiti. Vanilla is the second most expensive spice, after saffron. The production of both is labor intensive - hummingbirds and bees are involved. With the flowers open for only a short period of time, that makes it too difficult to predict, meaning plants need to be hand-pollenated. Intense.



 

 

 

 

 

So many of the foods and liquids I like have vanilla as an ingredient. Chocolate Chip cookies are flavored with vanilla extract. There's vanilla latte, vanilla milk shakes and hot fudge sundaes made with scoops of vanilla ice cream, vanilla- flavored powered protein and weigh-loss drinks.

 

 

Everything vanilla is beautiful and/or delicious.

 

 

Do you have a favorite recipe that calls for vanilla in one form or another?

 

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