Vanilla

Other connotations of the word "vanilla" aside, the flavoring derived from the vanilla vine was one of the major drivers of early trans-Atlantic trade and remains, pound for pound, the second-most expensive spice that's commercially grown (after saffron). You can read more about it here:
Vanilla

400 years ago the nations of Europe were willing to invest in sophisticated and expensive exploration programs to transport goods like vanilla, which only grows naturally in tropical Mexico, to the east. The modern corollary would be if large quantities of easily-obtained oil existed on the surface of Mars. Just as Mars is another world today, America truly was a new world, distant, wild, and wonderful. It would be centuries before the chemical industry would find the makeup of vanillin and begin producing it in quantity, and until then the thought of associating the simple pure beauty of its flavor dancing on the tongue with ordinariness would've been unthinkable. I'm an optimist when it comes to technology, but it pains me to see the way dullness seems always to nip at the heels of enlightenment.

Also the etymology of the word "vanilla" is interesting. Shockingly, this SMBC comic isn't too far off from the truth.