Vanilla is a member of the orchid family, and is just as hard to grow and harvest as its delicate cousins. Seeing as vanilla flowers only open once on one day of the year, farmers have to be extremely precise about when they hand-pollinate the plants. Once the plant is pollinated and produces a pod, it then has to be sun-cured for months and sheltered in a box overnight. But because of a bad harvest in Madagascar last year, the price of vanilla has spiked nearly 150 percent, putting the squeeze on ice cream makers around the world. continue
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