Ferreol's plantation was typical of most plantations with a large main house and small huts for the slaves. The houses of the slaves had no beds so they slept on the dirt floor. On the plantation the slaves planted sugarcane, and then cut and bundled the canes during harvesting. The work was hard in the hot sun and many slaves, wishing to be free and return to their home countries where they were taken from, escaped, rowing across the sea to Madagascar, Africa or Comoros. But for Edmond, life was different: he lived in the main house with Ferreol.
Ferreol Bellier-Beaumont was known on Reunion as a botanist who enjoyed studying rare plants. As Ferrreol walked about the plantation and his garden, Edmond watched him and learned from Ferreol about the various plants. Edmond was an intelligent child and became very interested in botany like his master, Ferreol.
Ferreol was interested in starting a new industry on Reunion - the producing of vanilla. Competition from Cuba and Europe meant that it was no longer profitable to grow sugarcane on Reunion. Ferreol did produce a small amount of cane for local needs but he also grew other produce including pumpkins, bananas and pineapples.
At this time, vanilla was grown only in Mexico, making it a rare and expensive spice. Botanists from France and Belgium had discovered that the Melipona bee pollinated the vanilla flower. However, they too were not able to get their vanilla plants to produce the vanilla pods. Ferreol had explained to Edmond how he pollinated his pumpkin plants by hand. Since the flowers open early, this had to be done before 10 AM in the morning. He would find the male and female flowers and touch the female stigma to the male anther in what was known as "the marriage". In a few days, small buds would appear beneath the female flowers. Edmond repeated this process himself in Ferreol's pumpkin field to see if he could replicate Ferreol's work. He was successful.
However, Ferreol like other botanists were frustrated by their lack of success in being able to able to pollinate the vanilla plant. His experiment using wasps from the fig tree didn't work either. So Edmond set out to help his master by intensively studying the different species of plants in Ferreol's garden. For each type of plant in Ferreol's garden, Edmond looked at the blossoms of each, located the male and female part of each flower and pollinated them by pressing these two parts together. When this was successful, Edmond knew that he understood how to find the male and female parts and how to hand pollinate them. The result was that Ferreol's garden produced pumpkins, squash, peppers and other produce. Edmond just had to look inside the vanilla orchid flower to find those parts. Carefully examining the orchid using a bamboo twig, Edmond located the sticky anther and "With the tip of the bamboo twig, he guided the anther to the female part of the plant, called th estigma, and pressed the two parts together. He had successfully hand pollinated the vanilla orchid! Edmond was twelve-years-old.
When Edmond saw that the plant had begun to bud the next day, he repeated the process on the remaining vanilla flower. A few days later when Ferreol was walking through the garden with Edmond and he saw the green vanilla pods forming underneath the wilted flowers he was stunned. Edmond explained what he had done. As new flowers opened, Edmond showed Ferreol the process for hand pollinating the vanilla orchid flowers.
Soon Ferreol's friends and the villagers and plantation owners came to see the vanilla buds but they were in disbelief that a slave could do this.Ferreol wrote letters documenting what Edmond had done because he wanted him to receive the recognition for his disocvery. These letters were sent to the French Chambers of Agriculture, scientific journals and even to Reunion's newspaper. He named what Edmond had done, "Edmond's gesture" or le gest d'Edmond. Edmond demonstrated his technique to the various plantation owners. Despite Ferreol's efforts to get Edmond the recognition he deserved it would take many years and much effort.
Discussion
The True Story of Vanilla is a fascinating account of how one young boy, a slave on a plantation on a small island in the Indian Ocean made an important discovery that had an impact both on his own country and the world. That person was Edmond Albius.
Richards presents Edmond's story while offering readers background information on many topics relevant to his discovery. The history of Reunion, the pollination of flowers, the discovery of xocolatl, an early form of chocolate by the Aztecs and of tlilxochitl by Montezuma when he conquered the Aztecs, the history of slavery in Reunion and elsewhere, and vanilla production in Mexico. There is a short discussion about growing a vanilla plant but no information on where to buy one!
Richards has included a section, "In The Pod" within each chapter, that offers readers interesting facts about the vanilla plant. For example, "Each vanilla bean is different, with a unique flavor, aroma and color," is one of many facts presented in these sections which can be found through the book. In The Pod provides information about the vanilla flower, pod and bean, the vanilla scent, vanilla's use in food, health benefits of vanilla, its use in cosmetics and how vanilla is produced today.
Edmond eventually gained his freedom as a result of the abolishing of slavery in the French colonies in 1848. He was now allowed to have a last name and he chose Albius, "...from the Latin albus/albin, meaning 'white' -- like the vanilla flower." After leaving the Bellier-Beaumont plantation, Edmond wanted to find work as a ship's cook but this was not to happen. Instead he worked as a laborer and eventually was convicted of theft and sentenced to five years of hard labor. He was freed after three years, due to the persistent efforts of Ferreol who continued also to advocate for Edmond to receive recognition for his pollination of the vanilla plant. This too was proving to be difficult because another botanist, a colleague of Ferreol's, Michel Claude Richard claimed to have discovered the method of how to hand=pollinate the vanilla orchid. Eventually Edmond was recognized as the discoverer of how to hand pollinate the vanilla orchid.
The True Story of Vanilla is filled with so many interesting facts about this spice which is used now throughout the world in so many products and foods. But it is also a story about slavery and the prejudice that existed at this time. Edmond Albius was only twelve-years-old when he made his astonishing discovery. He was intelligent and resourceful, a quick learner who applied the techniques that Ferreol taught him. But because he was a black slave boy, he was not considered intelligent enough to have discovered this process, by the white plantation owners. And it would take twenty years before he finally received the recognition he deserved for his hand-pollination technique - one that is still used today.
The art for the book is digitally created and colourful and while the cover is quite attractive, the artwork inside is somewhat uninspiring. Although there is map of Reunion, there is no map showing Reunion's location relative to Africa and Madagascar which would allow young readers to place the island's location on a globe. And although there is a surviving daguerreotype of young Edmond Albius, it was not included in this biography about him!
Ann Richards who is a Jamaican Canadian from Brampton, Ontario, has included a Timeline, a Glossary and a list of Resources as well as an Index.
The True Story of Vanilla is highly recommended for readers and cooks of all ages!
Book Details:
The True Story of Vanilla by Ann Richards
Toronto: Orca Book Publishers 2025
99pp.
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