Types of vanilla

Although vanilla is native to Mexico, it is now grown in subtropical areas around the world. Each region produces beans with distinctive flavors because of the specific terroir, or characteristics of the local environment such as climate, soil and geography. Even in the same region, however, crops can vary greatly from year to year depending on elements of terroir, and on the timing and care taken in harvesting, curing and processing.

According to Patty Erd, owner of The Spice House, three main types of vanilla are commonly available: Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla, Mexican and Tahitian. The first two are from Vanilla planifolia; Tahitian beans are from a different species, Vanilla tahitensis.

Here is a quick primer on the three main types of vanilla.

•Madagascar is the world's largest producer of vanilla beans, and Erd described it as "the purest, most straightforward vanilla." Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla is known for its smooth and mellow flavor. (The "Bourbon" refers to the French royal house and its colonies where vanilla was grown.)

In recent years, some of Madagascar's market share has been whittled away by newer plantations in India, Indonesia, Uganda and Papua New Guinea.

•Mexico, where the vanilla orchid originated, now produces only a small percentage of the world's harvest, but it can be "fabulous vanilla," Erd said. "It tends to have spicy notes, possibly from the orange trees that some growers such as Norma Gaya use as 'tutors' for the vines to climb up." Mexican vanilla goes well with chocolate, because "what grows together goes together," said Erd, and cocoa and vanilla have grown together in Mexico since before the Aztecs famously married the two flavors.

"When you can get good Mexican vanilla, it has the best strong, spicy flavor of any beans," Erd added. Many authorities, including the Larousse Gastronomique, concur.

•Tahitian vanilla comes from a different species of vanilla orchid. Erd said that "culinary people, especially pastry chefs, love Tahitian—it isn't as strong in the vanilla component, and has citrus and floral tones that can be very complex."

Todd Feitl, pastry chef at Vie restaurant in Western Springs, only uses Tahitian vanilla and characterizes it as "intense, floral and fairly sweet."

Tahiti grows and exports a relatively small amount of vanilla, so you will have to search for it—and pay for it.

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