I have 4 pint size mason jars of home made Vanilla extract brewing in my kitchen cabinet. I’ll be keeping tabs and taking pictures weekly to keep this post updated and in February when it’s ready I will be offering up a jar (or two) to one lucky winner!
Home made Vanilla extract is surprisingly easy to make, you just need LOTS of patience.. Like, 3 months worth of patience, lol.
I went and did something I’ve never done before and went to the liquor store and bought a ½ gallon of vodka (cheapy stuff, it was like $14, I don’t care, I don’t drink & it smelled like poison to me anyway.. But that’s besides the point) and then I went and bought a case of 12 mason jars at the little family store in town (1 jar was $4, a case of 12 was $9.99, so I went with the case.. I’ll be making Marmalade soon too) I bought 30 vanilla beans on ebay a while back that I keep in a special bottle with a rubber stopper & latch so no air gets in, so I used those.
To make 1 cup of vanilla extract you need:
1 cup vodka
3 vanilla beans
1 tightly sealing jar
a cool, dark spot to let it brew.
Pour the vodka into the jar, slice the vanilla bean down the center leaving 1 inch intact at the top of each bean. Place the beans into the vodka, seal the jar and give it a good shake. Store it in a cool dark spot and give it a shake every day. The extract will be fully mature in 3 months but will keep indefinitely. Add more vodka as you use it and you can also replace the old beans as you go along too to keep it going.
Happy baking!
Vanilla Extract day 1
Vanilla Extract day 7
2 comments:
Wow, thanks for sharing. I might actually try that one day when I'm feeling patient. lol
I bet it tastes and smells waay better than that bottled stuff at the grocery store. :)
I'll be intested in your results. I started a batch of homemade vanilla about 2 months ago after reading about it at Cooks Illustrated. At first it smells terribly "alcoholy" but now it's picking up a nice vanilla scent and getting darker in color. I'm hopeful that we will both have good results!! Vanilla can be so expensive.
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