Science and Vanilla: A Favorite Flavor in Danger

How much do you know about vanilla? Have you ever wondered where this spice comes from? Do you know that this spice is in danger and that the production cannot satisfy the market?

Will we have to switch to GMO vanilla? How does that sound to you? The world is facing a serious problem – we are dangerously lacking vanilla aroma. The well-known spice, without which no decent cake, ice cream, chocolate, or a number of other things can go, is in danger, and scientists have not yet developed a commercial way to obtain a quality vanilla aroma. Vanillin, which is added to vanilla sugar, is only one component of the aroma of vanilla seeds and is not enough to give the products in which it is added that rich aroma.

Today, there are over 18,000 products in which vanilla is added.

Vanilla, which we know as a spice, is actually tiny seeds inside pods that are the fruit of a specific type of orchid, Vanilla planifolia . This species is native to Mexico and the Europeans learned about the spicy properties of this spice when the Spanish conquistadors saw  the ancient Aztecs drinking chocolate flavored with vanilla. Vanilla soon became a favorite aroma, spice and fragrance in Europe, but only the rich could enjoy it. Namely, the production was so expensive because the plant depended on only one species of bee for pollination that lived only in Mexico.

However, today one of the most famous vanillas is the one from Madagascar, “bourbon”. As much as 80% of the total vanilla production comes from Madagascar. How is this possible, if Vanilla planifolia depends on one specific Mexican bee (genus  Melipona)  for fertilization and pod formation?

Edmond Albius was a slave, but a small invention allowed him to free himself and become an important figure in vanilla cultivation. Albius was born in Madagascar in 1829. Sometime when Albius was 12 years old, the French brought vanilla to Madagascar, otherwise a French colony. However, without the right pollinator, the plants remained sterile and did not produce the prized pods. Then Albius invented a method of artificial pollination of vanilla flowers – by hand – he transferred the pollen to the pistils of the flowers. Everything else is history. Vanilla spread to other parts of the hot zone and became a very profitable crop.

Vanillin is the main component of vanilla aroma. It is an organic molecule that belongs to the group of enol aldehydes, which means that it has both an aldehyde group and a phenolic ring. Due to the lack of vanilla on the market, a lot of vanillin, and the related ethyl vanillin, is produced synthetically.

The real aroma of vanilla is obtained by maceration of its pods in alcohol and is far more complex than vanillin itself. Real seedpod extract is a complex mixture of several hundred different compounds, including vanillin, acetaldehyde, acetic acid, furfural, hexanoic acid, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, eugenol, methyl cinnamate, and isobutyric acid.

 

However, vanilla cultivation alone is no longer enough to satisfy the world’s growing needs for this spice. Synthetic vanillin is only one of the components that gives vanilla seeds their aroma and does not meet the needs of a more refined, gourmet palate. However, synthetic vanillin is not an insignificant matter. It is obtained from eugenol, but also from lignin and guaiacol, which via phenylglyoxylic acid decarboxylates to give vanillin.

Vanillin is an important reagent and dye in thin-layer chromatography, and not just a flavoring for cakes and perfumes. It looks like a white crystalline powder that smells, of course, like vanilla.

Despite the fact that synthetic vanillin is harmless (in normal amounts), because it is synthetic, it is labeled as “artificial flavoring”. With the new age of hipsters, many manufacturers, such as Nestle, have decided to remove “artificial flavors” from their products.

This led to an ever greater need for real stuff. And the growers could not follow this need. In 2015, the price of vanilla beans reached $120 per kilogram. Just a few years ago, the price of a kilogram of pods was around $20. That’s great for manufacturers – if only they could produce as much vanilla as the candy-hungry world needs. On the other hand, all this means an increase in the price of products containing vanilla, which is ultimately unsustainable.

One way to prevent a “disaster” is for scientists to detect which genes are involved in the synthesis of a series of compounds that give vanilla seeds their aroma, and to introduce these genes into other organisms of interest, such as yeast, microorganisms or other plants that would bioreactors could provide sufficient amounts of this wonderful spice.

This is not impossible, but the process is long. Namely, these aromatic substances are not proteins, but genes code for a series of enzymes which, again, have their role in converting the precursors of aromatic substances in vanilla into the aroma we know and love. That is, in other words, it means that many more genes need to be isolated and studied and introduced into the organism that would produce the aroma “in bulk”. The entire pathway of vanillin synthesis in the plant should be reconstructed and then the genes encoding the enzymes involved in these biochemical reactions should be introduced into an organism that divides rapidly, say yeast. The enzyme vanillin synthase, which converts ferulic acid into vanillin-glucoside, is one of the keys to the synthesis of this fragrant substance, and if we could introduce it and some other enzymes into yeast, we could synthesize vanillin.

Some people would be disgusted by the idea that they get this aroma in bioreactors from yeast or some bacteria. I’m more disgusted by the idea of ​​clearing vast expanses of tropical forests to create plantations. We need to get rid of this GMO disgust, the sooner the better.