Vanilla

Vanilla is an orchid which was discovered in the 16th century in South America by the Spanish conquerors. It was brought in Europe in the 17th where it became very popular to flavour cakes recipes, hot chocolate or even tobaco. During the 18th century a lot of scientists studied the plant to be able to produce vanilla pods in  large quantities but very few plants gave the precious pods. Some scientists had then the idea to cultivate the orchid in a tropical climate close to its original environment. That is why in the early 19th century vanilla was introduced on the Bourbon Island (Réunion Island).

In 1841 a young slave, Edmond Albius, whose master thought botany invent a method which revolutionized vanilla pods production. Reunion became the first exporter in the world. The 1930s were the golden age for Bourbon vanilla. The production of vanilla pods developed in every islands of the Mascareignes archipelago and Madagascar. Today the porduction of vanilla is a traditional know-how.

Paul and Virginia

Paul and Virginia is a novel written by Paul Bernadin de Saint Pierre in 1787. The story takes place on the lost paradise of the "Isle de France" future Mauritius. This is the story of two children born from different families but raised together. At the adolescence they started having feelings for eachother. Virginia's mother didn't want her daughter to fall in love with Paul and decided to send her study in France. Left behind Paul was desperate and waited for his love to come back. Several years later Virginia came back on the Isle de France but on her way back the boat crushed on the reefs because of a storm. Virginia died before she could come back home.

A sweet Island

When you go to school in Reunion Island there is one school outing that everybody does. The school outing to Stella Matuntia. This place used to be the biggest sugar factory on the island and is now a museum. There we learn about the production of the sugar cane and slavery a part of Reunion inhabitants heritage. 

Stella Matutina

Sugar cane has been cultivated in Reunion Island since the beginning of the 19^th century. After the coffee growing, the sugar cane growing has made the wealth of the Island. There use to be 13 sugar factories but after several crises only 2 of them remain which can crush one million ton sugar cane each.  Today the production of sugar is supported by the European Union. Sugar cane fields are usually located in the east part of the island, a region which is more humid. 

cane cuters working in a field

    

one of the two sugar factories remaining

The production of the sugar cane does not only mean sugar production but also production of rum    and even renewable energy.

First of all let’s see how sugar is produced. The first step is the crop and the transportation which starts in July in Reunion. The crop is usually handmade and the 2 tons of sugar cane produced every year is then delivered to the sugar factories. Then the sugar cane is grinded to extract a jus which is purified and filtrated. This jus goes to the next step when the rest of the grinded sugar cane is used to produce renewable energy. This energy makes the sugar factories work. Then there the evaporation step after which the jus will become concentrated syrup. Finally this syrup is crystallized to obtain sugar crystals and then dried. It is at the step of the crystallization that a part of the syrup is used to produce rum but this is an other story. 

HOT

In Reunion Island it is traditional to eat what we call “rougail”. It is a mixture of chili, onions, garlic, found in south ginger, salt and pepper. If you want you can add lemon or green mango or tomatoes or even peanut butter depending on the taste. We put a small amount of this mixture on the side of the plate and we eat it with the rice etc.

                                     

          Rougail with mangos                                                                  Rougail with tomatoes

The type of chili that we use is called Bird’s eye chili, green or red this chili is about 3cm long. It is commonly found in south East Asia. Quite hot it is far from being the hottest chili in the world.

Bird's eye chili

To measure how hot a chili pepper the Scoville scale is needed. The scale was created by an American pharmacist in 1912. The bird’s eye is between 100.000 and 225.000 Scoville units on the scale which goes from 0 to 16.000.000.

Chili was first brought in Europe by Christopher Columbus. It is nowadays a staple in tropical countries. It is not only used as a flavor enhancer but also for its vertues. Indeed it brings vitamins but it is an antibacterian and an antiseptic as well. Those vertues may be a reason why chili peppers were used in tropical countries. At the time when it was difficult to conserv food espacially meat using chili peppers was a way to prevent possible deseases or indigestions.   

Food, blogging and America!

Here is the perfect movie for our class or for foodies!

This is the story of Julie Powell (Amy Adams) a young American woman who starts blogging about the cookbook of Julia Child (Maryl Streep) which revolutionised American cooking. Julie Powel  takes up the challenge to cook each 524 recipes of the book in 365 days and blogs about her experiences. The movie tells the story of two women who were looking for achievment in their lifes. Meryl Streep is once again brilliant in her part and the movie is an other occasion to flatter French food (what can I say?) 

 

Easter Break!

Hi everybody!

I hope that you had nice holiday and a great family time celebrating Easter. I had the pleasur to be invited by an Austrian family so I could have a closer look at Austrian traditions concerning Easter. We had Easter ham, boiled eggs and of course a lot of choclate.   

After the feast I was walking in Getreidegasse in Salzburg when I saw a quite interesting shop with tones of Easter decorations. Only one word came to my mind "Eggstrodinary!", as someone we know would say. I think we can talk about a real Easter fever.

J'irai dormir à Hollywood

While I was reading Bill Bryson's books I couldn't stop thinking about this documentary "J'irai dormir à Hollywood" (I will sleep in Hollywood). I saw it in 2008 and this movie is about the roadtrip of a man (Antoin de Maximi) who wanted to travel in the US from East to West and meet Amreican people. He traveled hitchhicking, by car, by bus, by train and even by hearse. He went through New York, Miami, Las Vegas ... with only one target: Hollywood where he hoped beeing invited by a star to spend the night. During his journey he met a lot of people who told a part of their story. This movie  draws a nice portrait of America from the point of view of a French with a nice accent. Enjoy!