Ligez vanilla essential oil throughout history, vanilla has been used in lotions, soaps, body and hair care products, incense, baked goods, and ice cream. Most perfumes that delight the senses have a least a few drops of vanilla. Native to mexico and central america, the climbing plant reaches about 12 feet in height and has clusters of green and yellow flowers that develop into aromatic brown pods with tiny seeds inside. The seed pods are put through a solvent extraction method to capture the oil. Here's a fun fact: the melipone bee, which is only found in mexico, pollinates the vanilla flower. In 1836, charles moran began hand pollinating the flowers so that vanilla could be cultivated throughout the world.