Colombia, Vanilla’s New Production Hub in the World
A speech given during the Barcelona Perfumery Congress last year by Ricardo Ramos, Independent Perfumer of Colombian Origin based in Granada/Spain.
"With an estimation of more than 4300 species of orchids, Colombia is a country with a major diversity of this beautiful botanical species in the world, having more than its 35% native from Colombian territory. The existence of Vanilla in Colombian territory has been ancestrally known among farmers and indigenous communities, being used by a few expert coffee farmers in their coffee plantations, adding it to the coffee beans as an aromatic, sophisticated twist. And among indigenous communities as well, as a tool for seduction, for scenting their clothing, and for making fragrant necklaces (Otapa) and garlands to attract lovers, as mentioned by the Jesuit monks in the 17th Century.
"Some of the very first well-documented vanilla species in Colombia date from The Royal Botanical Expedition to New Granada headed by José Celestino Mutis between 1783 and 1816, and years after that, the British Colonel J.P. Hamilton documented in his “Travels through the interior provinces of Colombia” published in 1827, the existence of abundant fragrant Vanilla species along the
Magdalena and the Cauca River basins. Later, during the nineteenth century, Colombian, North American, and Spaniard botanists recorded the existence of vanilla species in the provinces of Valle, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Tolima, and Huila.
During the XX Century, with the development and commercialization of synthetic Vanilla, the interest in natural Vanilla progressively disappeared, allowing the vanilla plants to be destroyed, becoming a product for very local use in countless communities.
Recently, in the current XXI Century, due to the high demand for vanilla in the world and the difficulty of its production and exploitation, interest in wild vanilla has been reborn in Colombia, with recent studies on the species surviving in the Pacific and Amazonian areas.
"The Universidad Nacional of Colombia (UNAL) started a project in 2015, doing research about the spices in the Pacific area,
starting from the shore coast of the Cauca province up to the coast shores in the Choco province, documenting the existence of nine native vanilla species, including the most commercial in the world: Vanilla Planifolia, initially known exclusively from Mexican territory. The study highlighted the existence of hybrid species with outstanding and rare olfactory profiles, which could be highly valued in the global food and cosmetics industries. In the Colombian Pacific, factors like natural pollination, the abundance of water, and the humid climate encourage its growth, resulting in the first flowers after a year and eight months, which means 2.5 years in total for having fruits. This is a shorter period compared to productions in Mexico, Madagascar, and China, because in those regions they must wait up to three years to have the first blooming and nine more months for the first fruits.
In recent years, in the Cauca Valley region, the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Cali and the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Palmira and Medellín Campuses, have increased the study of the vanilla orchid across biodiversity, agroecology, conservation, and sustainable use. Currently, thanks to the agreement signed with SWISSAID ( Swiss Foundation for Development Cooperation) Colombia, the UNAL Medellín Headquarters began research to study the insects associated with vanilla cultivation in Bahía Solano, where SWISSAID started a project to stimulate vanilla as a local development product that generates income for indigenous and Afro-descendant communities, through training on effective crop management. The project, which began in 2016 with 18 producers in the area, today has more than 200 farmers and has materialized in the community company Aromas y Sabores, which carries out the entire process of purchasing, collecting, curing, and marketing vanilla."
Inkera, the latest creation by Colombian perfumer Ricardo Ramos, is therefore an ode to the relationship between vanilla and the Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities of the Colombian Pacific, as well as a vehicle for introducing Colombian vanilla to the world. Inkera is the first perfume to feature Colombian vanilla in its formulation, specifically from the Chocó region, home to *Vanilla planifolia* agroforestry crops tended by ancestral Emberá communities and Afro-descendant families.
In addition to vanilla, the fragrance features a *Viche* liquor accord, a traditional artisanal spirit from Colombian Pacific communities made from fermented green sugarcane juice. Historically used as a medicinal tonic for stomach ailments and snakebites, *Viche* lends the fragrance green, jungle-like tones, the sweetness of cane honey, and mineral and subtle marine nuances. Another ingredient making its perfumery debut in Inkera is Pipilongo (*Piper tuberculatum*), an ancestral long pepper also native to the Colombian Pacific; it offers sparkling nuances reminiscent of petitgrain with woody depth, alongside a warm, zesty, spicy heat.
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