Name the Two Flowers

Seared Tuna with Spicy Vanilla Caper Sauce

Seared Tuna with Spicy Vanilla Caper Sauce and Couscous Shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max

Vanilla is too magical, complex, and not sweet. It is, in fact, bitter and deserves not to be trapped in the dessert world.

I had this conversation with Chef Rodrigo Amaury of NOIS in Oaxaca when I picked up a 50-gram bag of vanilla beans from AKIH, one of his purveyors that grows the fruit of orchids in the genus Vanilla, aka vanilla beans in the Chinantla region of Oaxaca. The Chinantla is the only region in the world where five to seven species of vanilla grow wild. The genetic diversity and the presence of wild vanilla plants suggest that Chinantla could be where vanilla originated (you’re welcome, world!).

The scent through the vacuum-sealed plastic was intoxicating, fish sauce-like in intensity, a pungent dose of tropical aromatic sweet perfume with notes of hyper-fermented sweet banana.

I sliced the vanilla pod with a paring knife and scraped the "beans," which are actually the tiny seeds inside them.

I closed my eyes. I took a deep breath of this precious vanilla, also called colibrí (hummingbird) by the Chinantecos, the Indigenous peoples of the Chinantla.

The intense floral scent in vanilla begged for another wild edible flower: capers. The pickled unopened flower buds of the plant Capparis spinosa. I swirled the vanilla beans and the pods in the pan sauce made with butter, capers, and finely chopped serrano chile.

Fresh tuna is seared and cooked in under 5 minutes. The exterior of the fish will be cooked, but the interior will be pretty rare, which you can cook for two more minutes if you prefer medium. The glossy couscous plays up the texture and size of the capers, cooks in no time, and is mixed with fresh herbs to make this dish a sensory overload.

I can die happy.