Worldwide, vanilla is the most popular flavor we know. Vanilla is also a popular product in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry, where it is used in perfumes and medicines, amongst other things. The only source of vanilla is the vanilla orchid, which is grown in tropical places such as Madagascar, Indonesia and Mexico. Shahnoo Khoyratty conducted Ph.D. research at the Institute of Biology Leiden into the role that fungi in plants play in the development of the vanilla flavor.
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Source: Phys.org