Saturday, November 12, 2011

Vanilla Extract

I made my vanilla extract today. The recipe is so simple - the only two ingredients are vanilla beans and vodka. (Any alcohol can be used but vodka has the cleanest flavor.) I had a hard time finding my beans so I ended up ordering some on Amazon.

I had five beans for a cup of vodka, which I think is a good amount based on what I've seen listed around the web. I split each bean in half lengthwise and scraped out the seeds.

Here's the all of the beans after they were split and scraped.

I cut the pods into pieces and placed the seeds and pods into the vodka and gave it a shake. It needs to be shaken once a week and should be ready in about 8 weeks, although it can take up to six months to really get the flavor of vanilla extract.

I also set aside one pod to add to a cup of sugar so I could have vanilla sugar as well. Can't wait to try that in my baking too!

(linked up with www.iheartnaptime.net)

2 comments:

  1. I have been wanting to try homemade vanilla extract! Let us know how it turns out when it is ready!

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  2. I started mine in September and I'm going to use it for the first time in my Thanksgiving baking. I'm so excited! I didn't scrape the pods, just put them in to soak, but it seems to be coming along pretty well anyway. Good luck with yours!

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