Homemade Vanilla Extract

[Marianne]

I have two bottles working all the time and one day will have 'spent' beans. Never thought about the sugar idea.

I don't take the time to scrape out the seeds, I just split the beans in half lenghwise and cram them in a bottle. I give it a few good shakes every time I use it and there are tons of seeds in it now. I think I have 12 beans in one bottle of vodka. The more, the merrier! And the sooner you'll have really good vanilla to use.

 

[~gd]

the Pure Vanilla Extract that I buy lists water, alcohol, and "vanilla bean extractives" as the only ingredients. I wonder what "vanilla bean extractives" are?

That is code for they "showed a vanilla bean to the bottle"

the solution contains a minimum 35% of alcohol and 100g of vanilla beans were used per litre. Most people don't want the beans after all the Vanille flavor is extracted out [vanills bean extractives] in 70 proof alcohol. Exactly what extractives are depend on the beans used, generally the cheapest available.

 

[baymule]

I finally ordered my vanilla beans and got them today. The instructions that came with the beans said to soak 1/4 pound per quart of vodka. And it said to chop the beans into 1/2 inch pieces, so I did. I have a 2 quart jar soaking now and told DH to take me to get more vodka. (If he goes with me--he pays!! ) I still have beans--gotta get them soaking!

Do ya'll strain the beans out? I see lots of tiny particles floating around in the vodka. Do those settle to the bottom or once the vodka turns brown, does it matter?

 

[Emerald]

I finally ordered my vanilla beans and got them today. The instructions that came with the beans said to soak 1/4 pound per quart of vodka. And it said to chop the beans into 1/2 inch pieces, so I did. I have a 2 quart jar soaking now and told DH to take me to get more vodka. (If he goes with me--he pays!! ) I still have beans--gotta get them soaking!

Do ya'll strain the beans out? I see lots of tiny particles floating around in the vodka. Do those settle to the bottom or once the vodka turns brown, does it matter?

How funny I just ordered a pound of beans to start some extract for friends for the holidays.. I never worry about the little seeds and bits floating.. if a big piece comes out I when I measure I pick it out but for me most of the little bits of floaty are mostly beans and the real flecks of vanilla bean in the final product doesn't bother me. but if you don't like it you can take a bit of good muslin(I use unbleached for kitchen duty and washed without soaps and softeners just boiled) and then rubber band it over the top of the bottle(jar) and it will keep the floatys in the bottle for you..
I've also used my bottle(made back closer to the first post I made on this thread) down to about half and I just put more vodka on top and I added a couple more beans and it is still strong and tasty. I didn't get into it after I had added the extra vodka for about a month and hubs couldn't tell the difference.
Now when I cook with them I scrape the seeds/caviar out and (if needed for the recipe I soak the bean pod too) and any pod left is rinsed if needed or just dumped into the sugar jar. I have one big fido jar with plain sugar and one big fido jar with sugar that I stuff the beans into. The granddaughter loves the vanilla sugar sprinkled on her pancakes(I was out of syrup last weekend).
I also have a friend who doesn't want it with alcohol so she uses very pure veg. glycerin for her extracts so I will probably just bundle her allotted beans so that she can make her own..
I've also thought about making a nice simple syrup and adding the caviar from the inside of a bunch of beans for my coffee. I broke down and got the pound so I can really play this time round..

 

[baymule]

I strained my first batch through a coffee filter. Then I filled the jar up again with more vodka. I soaked the first batch for 2 months, the next batch I can soak longer because I have some to use now! I also have a half gallon of rum soaking with vanilla beans.

I saved a soy sauce bottle, cooking sherry bottle and I had a bottle that I found a cap for. I made egg custard using my vanilla and WOW! What a taste difference. YUM! This is fun!

 

[Emerald]

I have made vanilla ice cream and a nice vanilla bean custard for the inside of my cream puffs and then I scraped one pod and mixed it in with steak seasoning and while it is quite light the vanilla did come thru the flavor in the steak.. I liked it but the rest of the family was.. eh it was okay.
once the pound gets here I am going to make a stronger version of the vanilla sugar with more of the caviar and use it in my whirly pop when I make kettle corn.. just think vanilla kettle corn.

 

[heatherlynnky]

My second go around with the beans once my first batch of vanilla was used up I added rum. The beans had already made one huge bottle of extract with vodka but I wanted something a bit more for christmas baking. I had some good rum and let it sit for the past 3 months. All I have to say is YUM YUM YUM. Just so i can use my vanilla rum I will bake more I think. Stuff is insanely good. I have 2 more bottles maturing in vodka now too. I have found that I use vanilla a ton more now .

I also made a pound of vanilla sugar. What a usefull little bean.

 

[Emerald]

Now I don't know how to do it but my mother and I were told by a young lady on the lake that vanilla lotion will keep the gnats and skeeters away while fishing and my mother bought a little bottle of just cheap vanilla lotion and we tried it as the little gnats were not biting but would swarm your head so that you sometimes ate them or breathed them in. and it worked. I told my mom that when I get the beans I may put a couple in some rubbing alcohol and use that mixed with a bit of water in a sprayer to see if it works with real vanilla. that would be mild enuf to soak the kiddos in.
I also want to split a couple and put it in a bottle of good sipping whiskey as myself and my family love flavored whiskey and flavored vodkas too. I'm thinking a pound is gonna be a lot once it gets here.. I have a couple of clean and ready mason jars to vac pack them into when they make it here..

 

[so lucky]

This spring when the buffalo gnats were so bad, my son discovered that the cheap vanilla does work well to repel the gnats. I think he mixed a little bottle of vanilla flavoring, some tea tree oil, alcohol and water. You have to shake a little before spraying. Probably don't really need the tea tree oil.
Don't use your good home made real vanilla for this, tho. Waste of good stuff.

 

[baymule]

I buy vanilla at the store and spray the chickens with it to keep the gnats off of them. It really works!