Although some people attribute a sedative effect to vanilla and recommend it as a cure for hysteria, others insist that it "promotes wakefulness" and "increases muscular energy." Perhaps that is why it also has a reputation as an aphrodisiac!
According to Totonac mythology, Xanat, daughter of the Mexican fertility goddess (Centeotle?), transformed herself into the plant out of love for a Totonac youth. As the story goes, she wanted to provide "pleasure and happiness" to all humankind. Vanilla has certainly done that.
These days, the Totonacs employ the beans as air fresheners in their cars and linen closets. Here, in North America, we can add the sweet flavor to snow to produce our own premium desert.
To make snow ice cream, collect fresh, clean snow which has just fallen. Add milk, sugar, salt, and vanilla until you have achieved the right consistency and taste. Then, curl up in a cozy corner with your bowl and dream of tropical climes like Madagascar and southern Mexico where orchids quite literally grow on trees!
Note: Vanilla phaeantha photos are by Clifford Pelchat, vanilla planifolia photos by Thomas Schopke, image from Kohler's Medicinal Plants, all courtesy of the Texas Vascular Plant Image Gallery at http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/gallery
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