El Tajin

I have to admit to a craving for Vanilla Coke, which debuted here in the UK in late spring. Apparently, they use natural vanilla (phew! now I feel a lot better), buying it from several locations around the world. Regular ‘classic’ Coke has a smidgeon of vanilla in it as well.

Last year, Coca-Cola enjoyed a successful launch of Vanilla Coke. Sales of the much-hyped product were solid enough to provide a boost in Coke’s growth, including an increase in US market share for the first time in 4 years, with unprecedented levels of consumer take-up (28.5 per cent of US households bought the brand in its first 9 months on the market).

While latest figures show that some of the fizz has gone from Vanilla Coke’s sales, this has not put off arch-rivals PepsiCo, who began distributing Pepsi Vanilla in North America a fortnight ago.

So, why am I interested? Well, vanilla originally came from Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. The Totonaca of Papantla were probably the first to cultivate it, in present-day Veracruz state. At one time Mexico produced the world’s finest vanilla and had the monopoly on vanilla production until the latter part of the 19th century.

So, with vanilla enjoying a bit of a renaissance, the question is whether farmers from the vanilla-growing region on the Gulf of Mexico will once more benefit from the Vanilla Wars. Best check out the Vanilla.COMpany website, culinary historian Patricia Rain’s (aka ‘The Vanilla Queen’) socially conscious, product-driven information and education site dedicated to the promotion of pure, natural vanilla, and the support of vanilla farmers in Mexico and beyond.