Making your own Vanilla Extract & Vanilla Bean Paste is so simple and elevates your baking. Just two ingredients; vanilla beans and vodka. Never buy vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste again. Simply add more vanilla beans and top off the vodka as needed. You’ve got to try this one. It takes a little patience, but the results are very rewarding.
What you need
Vanilla Beans
Vodka
Quart jar with a good seal
How to make Vanilla Extract & Vanilla Bean Paste
The process is easy, simply drop the vanilla beans into the quart jar and fill with vodka. It is important to cover the vanilla beans completely. If your beans are too long for a quart jar, use one that is taller. Make sure your jar has a good seal. Put the jar away in a dark place, like your pantry.
There is time involved in this process. How much time depends on whether you cut open the vanilla beans. The minimum time will be about 2 months. For this time frame, you need to cut open some of the vanilla beans and let their seeds infuse into the vodka. The beans that aren’t cut open can be used for vanilla bean paste. You can cut off one end and squeeze out the vanilla bean paste. I really wanted the vanilla bean paste so I cut small slits in about half the beans. I didn’t open them up all together. I first used my Vanilla & Vanilla Bean Paste today, just under 5 months since I started it. It was probably ready at 4 months.
I started my jar the day after Christmas and checked it every month to see how it was doing. It slowly got darker and smelled more of vanilla and less of vodka. If you want to speed up the process, I recommend opening up some of the beans. I used 16 vanilla beans and, in retrospect, I would have opened about 5 of them.
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Homemade vanilla is not as dark as store-bought vanilla. The color will be a medium amber with some seeds floating in the liquid. The beans themselves will be swollen and soft. When you snip off one end, you can squeeze out the vanilla bean paste inside.
Add more vanilla beans as you use them. You don’t want to run out of vanilla bean paste. It will take the new beans a couple of months to get soft. As you use the vanilla extract, top off the jar with more vodka. You want to keep the vanilla beans covered so that they stay preserved. Properly maintained, your jar of Vanilla & Vanilla Bean Paste will last for years.
This is worth waiting for!
Vanilla Extract & Vanilla Bean Paste
Making your own Vanilla Extract & Vanilla Bean Paste is so simple and elevates your baking. Just two ingredients; vanilla beans and vodka. Never buy vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste again. Simply add more vanilla beans and top off the vodka as needed. You've got to try this one. It takes a little patience, but the results are very rewarding.
Ingredients
- Vanilla Beans
- Vodka
- Quart jar with a good seal
Directions
- Step 1 The process is easy, simply drop the vanilla beans into the quart jar and fill with vodka. It is important to cover the vanilla beans completely. If your beans are too long for a quart jar, use one that is taller. Make sure your jar has a good seal. Put the jar away in a dark place, like your pantry.
- Step 2 There is time involved in this process. How much time depends on whether you cut open the vanilla beans. The minimum time will be about 2 months. For this time frame, you need to cut open some of the vanilla beans and let their seeds infuse into the vodka. I recommend using at least 16 vanilla beans and splitting open 5 of them.
- Step 3 The beans that aren’t cut open can be used for vanilla bean paste. Cut off one end and squeeze out the vanilla bean paste.
- Step 4 Homemade vanilla is not as dark as store-bought vanilla. The color will be a medium amber with some seeds floating in the liquid. The beans themselves will be swollen and soft. When you snip off one end, you can squeeze out the vanilla bean paste inside.
- Step 5 Add more vanilla beans as you use them. You don’t want to run out of vanilla bean paste. It will take the new beans a couple of months to get soft. As you use the vanilla extract, top off the jar with more vodka. You want to keep the vanilla beans covered so that they stay preserved. Properly maintained, your jar of Vanilla & Vanilla Bean Paste will last for years.