So, to explain it simply, there is a little hood like thing inside the vanilla flower which needs to be ripped with the toothpick, the flap of which needs to be moved upward dexterously with one’s thumb, and there’s a distinguishable stalk called the anther, which needs to be pushed against the stigma (inside of the hood) with the toothpick and then pressed down again with one’s thumb. All this gets over in maybe three seconds and one needs a steady hand for this. 

For the first two flowers that I pollinated, my hands were shaky because the flowers are so fragile and I had to be really sure what I was poking the toothpick into. Every morning I would spend around an hour looking for flowers that have bloomed and must be pollinated. The flowers last only for a day and must be pollinated in that window, preferably before noon. 

They also do not smell anything like vanilla. They are rather odorless. If they are successfully pollinated, they wither on the stalk, or else they just drop to the ground. It can take up to three years for a vanilla creeper to bear flowers. Once the flowers wither after successful pollination, it transforms into a vanilla pod. It is these green pods which are plucked and subject to a lengthy 3-month process before it becomes what we are familiar with in our kitchens. 

So happy I got this opportunity to be a Nature Fairy to the vanilla creepers.