since its creation in 1930 disbanded. Prices dropped 70% over the next few years, to nearly US$20 per kilogram; prices rose sharply again after tropical cyclone Hudah struck Madagascar in April 2000. The cyclone, political instability, and poor weather in the third year drove vanilla prices to US$500/kg in 2004, bringing new countries into the vanilla industry. A good crop, coupled with decreased demand caused by the production of imitation vanilla, pushed the market price down to the $40/kg range in the middle of 2005. By 2010, prices were down to $20/kg. Cyclone Enawo caused a similar spike to $500/kg in 2017. An estimated 95% of "vanilla" products are artificially flavored with vanillin derived from lignin instead of vanilla fruits. Although it is scientifically accepted that vanilla was domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread to the Old World, in 2019 researchers published a paper stating that the use of an unidentified, Old World-endemic Vanilla species is attested in Canaan/Israel during the Middle Bronze Age and later. Traces of vanillin were found in wine jars in Jerusalem, which were used by the Judahite elite before the city was destroyed in 586 BCE. Etymology The word vanilla is derived from the Spanish word meaning "little pod", which is the diminutive of the Latin vagina (sheath) describing the shape of the pods. The word "vanilla" entered the English language in 1754, when the botanist Philip Miller wrote about the genus in his Gardener’s Dictionary. Biology Vanilla orchid The main species harvested for vanilla is V. planifolia. Although it is native to Mexico, it is now widely grown throughout the tropics. Indonesia and Madagascar are the world's largest producers. Additional sources include V. pompona and V. tahitiensis (grown in Niue and Tahiti), although the vanillin content of these species is much less than V. planifolia. Vanilla grows as a vine, climbing up an existing tree (also called a tutor), pole, or other support. It can be grown in a wood (on trees), in a plantation (on trees or poles), or in a "shader", in increasing orders of productivity. Its growth environment is referred to as its terroir, and includes not only the adjacent plants, but also the climate, geography, and local geology. Left alone, it will grow as high as possible on the support, with few flowers. Every year, growers fold the higher parts of the plant downward so the plant stays at heights