Organic Vanilla Extract
Yield: 2 750 ml bottles
Cost: $60
Equipment
- 1 cutting board
- 1 knife
Materials
- 20 organic vanilla beans I use Cook's purchased on Amazon
- 2 750 ml bottles preferred alcohol vodka, rum and bourbon are common choices
Instructions
- Collect equipment and materials in a clean work space.
- Remove vanilla beans from packaging and count out 20 to place upon your cutting board. Dispose of any packaging before moving on.
- Using your knife, make 1 long slit the length of the bean. This is to expose the pulp and and seeds to the alcohol. Complete this step for all 20 beans.
- 10 sliced beans should be added to each bottle of alcohol. As the beans are added, they will displace the alcohol. Make sure to keep an eye of the alcohol level so it does not overflow.
- Secure the lids back on each bottle and holding the lid and bottle securely, give each bottle a decent shake to agitate the beans.
- Using a preferred method, label the month and year on the bottle to track the amount of time you allow for aging.
- Put it up on a shelf and forget about it for at least 6 months.
- When mature, the beans may be removed and seeds strained out.
- Use the same measurements of store bought vanilla extract as recommended by the recipe in use.
Notes
This recipe is a 3:1 fold ratio. For a more budget friendly version of this extract reduce the fold ratio to either 2:1 or 1:1.