vanilla
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vanilla,
a plant of the genus Vanilla of the family Orchidaceae (orchidorchid,popular name for members of the Orchidaceae, a family of perennial herbs widely distributed in both hemispheres. The unusually large family (of some 450 genera and an estimated 10,000 to 17,500 species) includes terrestrial, epiphytic (see epiphyte), and saprophytic
..... Click the link for more information. family). Vines of hot, damp climates, most are indigenous to Central and South America, especially Mexico, but are now cultivated in other tropical regions. The fruits yield vanilla, a flavoring popular since pre-Columbian times, when the Aztecs used it in making chocolate. The commercial vanilla plant is usually V. planifolia or V. fragrans. Since its natural pollinating agents (certain bees and hummingbirds) are uniquely adapted for this function, commercial plants must be pollinated by hand. The source of the flavor is an aromatic essence, vanillin, which crystallizes on the outside of the seed pod after a series of curing and drying processes. Vanilla flavoring is also obtained from the tonka beantonka bean
, black-skinned, aromatic, almondlike single seed from the pod of any tall leguminous tree of the genus Dipteryx in the family Leguminosae (pulse family) of tropical South America.
..... Click the link for more information. , although now it is most commonly manufactured by the cheaper process of artificially synthesizing vanillin, as from coal tar, clove oil, or lignin, a byproduct of paper manufacture. Vanilla is usually marketed as an alcoholic extract for use as food and tobacco flavoring and in perfumery. Vanilla is classified in the division MagnoliophytaMagnoliophyta
, division of the plant kingdom consisting of those organisms commonly called the flowering plants, or angiosperms. The angiosperms have leaves, stems, and roots, and vascular, or conducting, tissue (xylem and phloem).
..... Click the link for more information. , class Liliopsida, order Orchidales, family Orchidaceae.
Bibliography
See P. Rain, Vanilla (2004).
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vanilla
[və′nil·ə] (computer science)
Referring to a generalized system, usually software, that has not been subjected to special modifications, enhancements, or customization. Also known as plain vanilla; pure vanilla.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
vanilla
1. any tropical climbing orchid of the genus Vanilla, esp V. plonifolia, having spikes of large fragrant greenish-yellow flowers and long fleshy pods containing the seeds (beans)
2. the pod or bean of certain of these plants, used to flavour food, etc.
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
vanilla
1. (Default flavour of ice cream in the US) Ordinary
flavour, standard. When used of food, very often does not
mean that the food is flavoured with vanilla extract! For
example, "vanilla wonton soup" means ordinary wonton soup, as
opposed to hot-and-sour wonton soup. Applied to hardware and
software, as in "Vanilla Version 7 Unix can't run on a
vanilla PDP 11/34." Also used to orthogonalise chip
nomenclature; for instance, a 74V00 means what TI calls a
7400, as distinct from a 74LS00, etc. This word differs from
canonical in that the latter means "default", whereas
vanilla simply means "ordinary". For example, when hackers go
to a chinese restaurant, hot-and-sour wonton soup is the
canonical wonton soup to get (because that is what most of
them usually order) even though it isn't the vanilla wonton
soup.
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