Most vanilla used for baking and cooking is actually artificial flavoring because real vanilla is difficult and expensive to grow. Here’s the reason behind the high price of pure vanilla extract, and everything you need to know regarding whether or not it’s worth upgrading to the real thing.
Place of Origin
Around 80% of all vanilla in the world is grown on the African island of Madagascar. For the past few years, the island has seen bad weather, including storms that have ruined many plants and made the prices go way up. Vanilla costs around $300 per pound today, which is 10 times more than it cost a few years ago.
Hard to Grow
Besides the unpredictable weather conditions, another big factor is that vanilla is simply difficult to grow. If it wasn’t, it would be produced in many other places in the world. Vanilla is a plant from the orchid family. Vanilla beans grow from just one type of orchid called vanilla planifolia. If you’ve ever tried to care about an orchid plant in your home, you know how difficult it can be to keep it alive.
The orchids flower once per year and it’s very important to do the hand pollination on that very day. The labor costs are high, and all these factors have made vanilla the second most expensive spice in the world, right behind saffron.
