Being vanilla is no bad thing: Mexican city that once ‘perfumed the world’ is pushing for a revival of the sweet spice

In Papantla, an eastern Mexican city where vanilla is strongly tied to people’s identity, scientists, chefs and farmers are actively pushing to revive the spice

Think vanilla-infused dishes like avocado soup with vanilla, and duck with a chocolate and vanilla sauce, and art and rosary beads made with vanilla pods

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Eduardo Tepoxteco smells the different vanilla strains grown inside a laboratory in Papantla, Mexico. Those tied to Mexico’s vanilla industry are working to increase the spice’s local consumption and production. Photo: TNS

Published: 5:15pm, 25 Feb 2024

Long gone are the days when heaps of green vanilla pods were drawn into town by mules and laid out on woven mats to dry in the sun, perfuming the streets before being packed up and sold abroad.

In this corner of eastern Mexico, known as “the city that perfumed the world”, the aromatic spice once dominated daily life and contributed to Mexico becoming the world’s leading supplier of vanilla more than a century ago.

Markets have long since shifted and artificial vanilla is now the global norm. But in Papantla, a city in Veracruz state where the spice is still strongly tied to people’s identity, scientists, chefs and farmers are actively pushing to reassert its profile.

Could a vanilla renaissance finally bloom in Mexico?

Lucio Olmos Morales shows off artisan designs made out of vanilla bean stalks at his home in Papantla, Mexico. Photo: TNS

In this city of 160,000, artisans make figurines with vanilla’s shiny dark brown stems. Restaurants serve vanilla-infused dishes. And a prominent plaque by the town square tells the “Legend of Vanilla”, the tale of how vanilla originally grew from the blood of a beautiful indigenous princess who was decapitated by priests for having a romantic affair.

“If you have bad thoughts, they disappear, if you’re angry, it disappears, because the aroma has an effect of high relaxation,” says Lucio Olmos Morales, a local artisan who often works at a table on his porch weaving vanilla pods into crowns, rosary beads and flowers.