Fragrance story: Sure he was President and wrote the Declaration of Independence — not too shabby. But Thomas Jefferson is also credited with introducing vanilla to the United States in the late 1700s. While serving as Ambassador to France, he became familiar with vanilla and brought 200 vanilla beans with him when he returned to the United States. Today, vanilla beans are grown in four distinct regions of the world: Madagascar, Indonesia, Mexico and Tahiti. This produces vanilla beans with unique regional characteristics and attributes, each particularly suited to different uses.