Spice Up Your World

Image: Vanilla producers at work in Madagascar

The spice trade is practically as old as time and rich with history. Did you know that …nutmeg was once worth more by weight than gold? That in the 16th century, London dockworkers were paid their bonuses in cloves? Or that in 410 AD, when the Visigoths captured Rome, they demanded 3,000 pounds of peppercorns as ransom?

One of the world’s most popular spices is vanilla. Fairtrade partner Nielsen-Massey Vanillas knows fun facts about vanilla like:

Thomas Jefferson is credited with introducing vanilla to the United States in the late 1700s. While serving as Ambassador to King Louis XVI of France, he became familiar with vanilla beans and brought 200 vanilla beans back with him when he returned to the United States.

George Washington kept two pewter ice-cream pots filled with vanilla ice cream at Mount Vernon during his presidency.

Dolley Madison created a sensation when she served vanilla ice cream as a dessert in the White House at the second inaugural ball in 1812.

Fair Trade Month is a great time to learn about who and what is behind that fragrant little bottle in your cupboard.

Mubuku Vanilla Farmers

In 2008, the 6,000 small-scale farmers of the Mubuku Moringa Vanilla Farmers’ Association in western Uganda became Fairtrade certified after struggling through a period of rock-bottom market prices.

Vanilla is native to Central America, but when grown in other places like Uganda, it must be pollinated by hand - a highly labor intensive process for farmers.

The Fairtrade minimum price and premium have helped farmers improve their livelihoods and communities.

With the additional income, farmers have built houses of bricks and cement, and invested in cattle. Most farmers now own a mobile phone, a valuable asset in the isolated district.

Villagers decide democratically how to spend the Fairtrade premium and have prioritized education, paying for private school fees where government-funded schools are poor.

Farmers report that Fairtrade has indirectly led to a greater role for women, who now take part in the leadership of the association, voice their opinions and needs, and attend training workshops on micro-finance and agricultural techniques.

So the next time you wince at the price of vanilla pods that you need to bake something sweet, think of the farmers who hand-pollinate each flower to grow the beans that delightfully flavor so many things.

Thank you for helpings them to support their families to have brighter futures.