バニラアイスクリームはお好きですか？
バニラがヨーロッパに広まったお話です。
A pastry with custard cream is one of the best foods in Europe. The magic ingredient of the pastry is vanilla -not vanilla essence but real vanilla.

pastry : パン菓子。 custard cream : カスタードクリーム。 magic ingredient: 秘訣。

バニラの原産地は？
Vanilla is the world's most expensive spice, after saffron and cardamon: and no wonder, for its not easily come by. Vanilla beans are native to Mexico. A Spanish explorer-cum-conqueror Hernan Cortes found the Aztec Indians grinding aromatic black vanilla pods for a hot chocolate drink.
saffron : サフラン。　cardamon : カルダモン。come by : 手に入れる。　native to: 〜産。　explorer : 探検家。　cum :〜であり〜。conqueror : 征服者。grind : 挽く。hot chocolate drink :ココア。


バニラがヨーロッパに根付いた背景には研究者の大変な努力があった。
The cocoa plants then invaders took back to Europe flourished easily in other tropical regions but they couldn't get the vanilla plant to bear fruit anywhere outside Mexico even though they took home some roots of it. Later researchers found out that only one species of bee and a rare humming bird indigenous to Mexico could pollinate the flowers of vanilla. It wasn't until a Belgian botanist introduced the technique of pollination by hand that vanilla could at last be cultivated successfylly in other tropical regions.
invader : 侵略者。flourish : (草木)繁茂する。bear fruit :実をつける。species : 種。humming bird : はちどり。indigenous : 土地固有の。pollinate : 受粉する。 botanist : 植物学者。cultivate : 栽培する。

ブラッセルラーケン王宮内温室　　一年に一回2週間程一般公開されます。