That’s only outside their native range. In Mexico, where they’re from, they’re pollinated by the Melipona bee. Mexico is currently 3rd place in vanilla production at 6.5%, so you’re not wrong to say the majority of vanilla plants are pollinated by hand, but they do have a natural pollinator. In theory, you could introduce the Melipona bee to areas where Vanilla has been imported to cut down the labor time/costs.
this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2024
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Thinks makes me wonder if they could make a "closed system" outside the natural range - like a giant greenhouse that includes the plant AND the bee.
Which would then turn into a movie-worthy story about the bees getting out and somehow causing the zombie apocalypse.
OR - it would just be BioDome with Pauly Shore. But with bees.
Ya like jazz?
You should edit the wikipedia entry and include this!
I just looked at the Wikipedia page and I think it’s fine. They’ve cited some sources which detail the debate about which pollinators actually pollinate the plant. Compared to someone who’s got a degree studying plants, I know basically nothing. I’m just repeating what I’ve heard. If they’ve got a list of pollinators and are trying to narrow down the right one, then they’re closer to the truth than I am.
That's why "Madagascar vanilla" is such a funny marketing term. It's trying to make it sound exotic, but it's the biggest source of vanilla. Vanilla pretty much has to come from a super impoverished country to be able to be cultivated with hand pollination. They grow vanilla on hawaii, and a single bean costs $20. It might taste better than $1 madagascan beans, but probably not 20 times better.
Created the entire vanilla industry pretty much single-handedly and died in poverty. Sounds about right.
Horrible that he died in poverty, but he did die a free man, which is a lot more than you can say for most black people on Réunion.
You could make an anime about that
The Time I got Reincarnated as a Professional Plant Wanker in Another World.
It would be a damn isekai
Man, the word "vanilla" has become so ubiquitous with "plain, unaltered, default" that I was really confused at first.