There is more to vanilla than its taste and aroma

Vanilla is a common additive to make cakes, ice creams, and fragrant body lotions. Children enjoy a good vanilla ice cream. People often use vanilla as the primary flavour in baked goods and in chocolates. It is not just the flavour: vanilla also has health-promoting properties that have been known for centuries.

Vanilla comes from the fruits of the orchid herb that botanists call Vanilla planifolia, found mostly in tropical countries. Its medicinal properties have been known since ancient times. Traditional physicians of the 15th century in the Aztec region of Mexico had used the orchid pods as a remedy for stress and mental strain. In India, the vanilla plant was brought by the Colonial British and the plant is now grown in Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.