Vallarta Botanical Garden's Cacao & Vanilla Fest Bob Price - Vallarta Botanical Gardens
go to original August 19, 2014

Only in the summer season can you experience the splendor of Vallarta’s forest in their full abundance during a visit to the enchanting Vallarta Botanical Garden.

Two globally important plant species, vanilla (Vanilla planifolia) and chocolate (Theobroma cacao) native to the rainforests of Mexico are being celebrated now until the end of August at the Botanical Garden.
 
The VBG and its famous Hacienda de Oro Restaurant invite you to celebrate this magical time with us. We will have a lunch special in our restaurant during the Rainforest Festival. Our regular summer menu is also available.
 
Chocolate is a product of the cacao (Theobroma cacao), a small evergreen tree, that is native to Mexico’s southern region. Its seeds are used to make cocoa powder and chocolate. The fruit, called a cacao pod, is ovoid, 15–30 cm long and 8–10 cm wide, ripening yellow to orange, and weighs about 500 g (1.1 lb) when ripe. The pod contains 20 to 60 seeds, usually called "beans", embedded in a white pulp. The seeds are the main ingredient of chocolate, while the pulp is used in some countries to prepare a refreshing juice. Their most noted active constituent is theobromine, a stimulating compound similar to caffeine.

Culinary vanilla (Vanilla planifolia) was first cultivated by the Totonac people of the Gulf Coast of Mexico in the present-day state of Veracruz. According to their mythology, the tropical vanilla orchid was born from a story of love and tragedy. When Princess Xanat, forbidden by her father from marrying a mortal, fled to the forest with her lover, the two were captured and beheaded. Where the blood of the princess’ lover touched the ground a tree grew and next to it, where the princess’ blood touched the ground the vine of the vanilla orchid grew attaching to the tree forever. Mexico had a near monopoly on vanilla production until 1841 when a 12-year-old slave child living on the French island of Bourbon (now called Réunion) discovered a simple way to hand-pollinate the flower. Because of the labor required to pollinate and cure vanilla, it is the second most expensive spice (after saffron). Learn more about this incredible plant first hand with your next visit to the Vallarta Botanical Garden.
 
Hours are 10:00 am until 6:00 pm. VBG is closed on Mondays from April through November.

Vallarta Botanical Gardens is located 30 minutes south of Old Town, Puerto Vallarta, on Carretera a Barra Navidad at km 24, just past Las Juntas and Los Veranos. For more information, email info@vbgardens.org or telephone (322) 223-6182.

  Learn about Vallarta Botanical Gardens

  Check out Timothy Real Estate Group