Vanilla is derived from the pod-like bean of climbing orchids of the genus Vanilla, by and large from the species Vanilla planifolia. Is native to the tropical region of the Americas and originally comes from Mexico, where its sole pollinator is the stingless Melipona bee. The tropical orchids and vanilla fruits were introduced to Europe in the first half of the 16th century by the Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés, together with cacao.

However, since pollination is required in order to produce the vanilla pod, i.e. after the flower is pollinated it dies and from it the pod starts to grow, the Belgian botanist Charles Morren in 1837 started pioneering a way to artificially pollinate the plant, but his method proofed commercially unviable and it wasn't until Edmond Albius, a slave from the French island of Réunion, four years later discovered that the plant could actually be hand-pollinated, which eventually led to global cultivation. Vanilla is said to be the second-most expensive spice after saffron, the so-called Red Gold.