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The story of vanilla begins with the Totonaco Indians of Mexico, who were the first to unearth its secret. They fell to the Aztecs, who were in turn soon conquered by the Spaniards, under the leadership of Hernando Cortez. Cortez brought his precious plunder, including a few beans of vanilla, back to Spain. Vanilla beans are the fruit of an orchid which blooms for only one day each year. Because of this, and also because the flowers must be hand-pollinated, vanilla is the second most expensive spice on earth, after saffron.