Sunday, September 23, 2012

DIY Homemade Vanilla Extract


DIY Vanilla Extract 
If there is one product I am picky about in baking, it is Vanilla extract. It is very hard to find good quality pure vanilla extract anymore. Even the ones that say "pure" or "real" are full of corn syrup most of the time. I usually go to Sur La Table or Williams and Sonoma to find high quality Madagascar vanilla and it costs me almost $20 for a bottle. This does not need to be the case. Vanilla is actually quite simple to make at home, and affordable. 


You only need 3 ingredients:
Filtered Water

I get my vanilla beans from olive nation.For the price of one jar at Sur La Table, I get 50 pure soft and scrumptious vanilla beans. You only need one bean per bottle, so you can make 50 bottles with that! Their beans are certified gluten-free and certified kosher. They are very high quality. I LOVE them! I ordered 4 ounce bottles from Uline

As I said before you will need one full vanilla bean for each 4oz jar. Slice the vanilla bean in half lengthwise to expose the vanilla bean pulp. You do not need to pull out the pulp. The Vodka will suck all the flavor out of the bean for you. Now cut the bean in half again and plop into each bottle. 

Using a funnel Pour the filtered water into each bottle until they are halfway full of the water.
  Now fill the remainder of the bottles with your vodka. 
 Seal the lid and your Vanilla will be ready for use in 2 months, and lasts for years if stored in a kitchen cupboard, it actually just gets better with time.  
These make great Christmas gifts! So get started right away!
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4 comments:

  1. You are awesome... I never knew it was so easy!! What perfect gifts indeed!! :)

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  2. thank you! i really love your blog, you always hit the spot!

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  3. After about 5 weeks, my vanilla beans look like they have something growing on them!! Tell me that's normal please!!

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  4. haha yes Andrea! This is just the beans seeping out. If you don't want the seeping, you can sieve out the beans. When that happens it means it is ready. I like the black seepage because it adds more flavor.

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Thank you! I love comments!

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