Recently I saw a post on Chocolate & Zucchini on making your own vanilla extract. Since this sells for nearly as much as HP printer ink at the super market I thought it would be worth looking into.
As it turns out it’s incredibly easy to make and totally worth doing. I followed this “recipe” from Chocolate & Zucchini.
Homemade Vanilla Extract
- 3 medium vanilla beans, or 1 1/2 fat ones
- 1 cup rum or vodka
Homemade Vanilla Extract via Chocolate & Zucchini
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Signing UpStep 1: Sanitize, slice, pour.
There really isn’t much to this. I picked up a pound of “Grade B Extract Vanilla Beans” on eBay for $20 shipped and a handle of Vodka for $17.99. As it turns out a pound of vanilla beans is an incredible amount of beans. Recipes seem to recommend anywhere from 3 to 6 beans per cup of alcohol. I used 6 and still had enough beans to make this recipe 5 or 6 times over. Something to think about when making that eBay order.
Figuring 3 beans per cup of alcohol I calculated out the amount of alcohol and number of beans needed (a lot).
The steps for preparing this are pretty simple.
1. Remove vodka or rum from original bottle
2. Split vanilla beans in half
3. Sanitize bottle
4. Put beans in the bottom of the now empty and sanitized bottle
5. Pour vodka back into bottle
6. Cap it, date it and throw it in the back of your cabinet.
Sanitizing the bottle may have been overkill but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Give the bottle a shake everyday for the first week and then once or twice a week for the rest of the infusion period.
Your vodka/rum should be “extract” in 2 months but will continue to improve in flavor for at least another 4-6 months.
Figuring 3 beans per cup of alcohol I calculated out the amount of alcohol and number of beans needed (a lot).
The steps for preparing this are pretty simple.
1. Remove vodka or rum from original bottle
2. Split vanilla beans in half
3. Sanitize bottle
4. Put beans in the bottom of the now empty and sanitized bottle
5. Pour vodka back into bottle
6. Cap it, date it and throw it in the back of your cabinet.
Sanitizing the bottle may have been overkill but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Give the bottle a shake everyday for the first week and then once or twice a week for the rest of the infusion period.
Your vodka/rum should be “extract” in 2 months but will continue to improve in flavor for at least another 4-6 months.
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Though since I didn't know I looked it up and found this.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-vanilla-and-french-vanilla.htm
Cheers
My husband and I have tried every brand of vanilla (including organic brands) from all of our local grocers and finally settled on a brand that we like the smell of... BUT, it costs $10/bottle and we go through a lot of vanilla and purchase a bottle each month. EXPENSIVE!
I love the idea of saving money and possibly having a better smelling / tasting product too. I'll post back when my vanilla is ready to let all know how it's turned out. :)
Thank you!! :)
Thanks for the instructable.
This extract is pretty nice and a good bulk price: 32 oz for 33$, or 1.03$ a oz.
Even with the bottles factored in, the homemade is cheaper. Wherever you are getting a gallon of good vanilla extract for 3$, you should buy it in bulk and sell it to the rest of us. :D
In the US (on Amazon) prices range from $60 to $460 a gallon. If I could get it at $3 a gallon I'd probably buy a 50 gallon drum.
They have a wide variety of extremely fresh spices, and great pricing in my opinion. There is always a special running where you get something for free with your order as well, and vanilla beans are often one of the free items if you care to wait for them to come up.