Homemade Vanilla Extract

Hi there! How is everyone doing? I was thinking recently and decided it would be fun to do a series of blog posts about Natural living, cooking, Do-it-yourself health and home products, and other fun things like that. So here we go!

Homemade Vanilla Extract

One of the projects on my upcoming Holiday “to do” lists is making my own, homemade Vanilla Extract.  It is one of the easiest DIY foodie projects out there, and a huge money saver compared to store-bought Pure Vanilla Extract. Not to mention, YOU get to control the quality of what you put in your extract.

What you need:

• 3 good quality Vanilla Beans (per 1 cup of extract you want to make)
• Minimum 80-proof Alcohol, of your choice (Vodka, Rum, Bourbon, etc)
• A Glass Bottle or Jar with an Air-tight lid, such as a Mason Jar.
• A sharp paring knife

Start off by Getting the Vanilla Beans.  I get mine from eBay (seriously), through the seller VanillaProducts. Their beans are great quality and, best of all, inexpensive, I purchased 2 pounds of Organic Madagascar Vanilla Beans last year to extract as Holiday gifts. The left-over beans are still doing great in a dark cabinet, a year later! You can also find vanilla beans in stores with bulk-food sections, or bulk spice stores.  There are many different kinds of Vanilla Beans (Madagascar, Tongan, Mexican, Tahiti, etc.) beans from each region have different flavors. The Madagascan beans have the most robust flavor and are the best for extracting, whereas the Tahitian beans have a lighter flavor and are better for using the actual beans, such as in desserts. Have fun experimenting with different kinds and combinations!

Next, Choose your Alcohol.  Vodka is a great go-to for this project and it's what I have always used. However, I have heard that Rum or Bourbon add incredible flavor to the extract! As long as the alcohol is 80-proof or over, you will have great success with your extract.

Prepare the Extract

First, sterilize your jar, by boiling it for about 10 minutes.

With your paring knife, slice the vanilla beans down the middle, lengthwise. Leave an inch or so uncut at one end of the bean.

Put the vanilla beans in the jar and cover completely with alcohol.

Put the lid on the jar. Shake it. 

Put it in a cool, dark cabinet.  

Now here is the hard part. The extract has to – well, extract, for 2 MONTHS before it’s ready to use!  You should shake it up every week or so and check on its progress.

When 2 months have passed, you can use your Vanilla Extract!  Some people choose to leave the beans in the jar, others prefer to strain them out at the end of the extraction period.  If you leave the beans in the bottle, it will continue to extract and intensify the vanilla flavor of the extraction – It is up to personal taste, experiment with it!

It is easy to make extracts as gifts, even on short notice. Just print up a little tag that says how to store the vanilla and when it will be ready and attach it to the bottle.

The extract will keep indefinitely in a cool, dry, dark cabinet.

Have fun! 

-Emilyanne Andrews

P.S. I’ll add pictures of my experience soon!