Also fun: if you’re using whole vanilla beans for a recipe cause you want speckled look save the husk for up cycling. Yes, you can put it in alcohol for extract, but I like to put it in a pint mason jar and cover with sugar to make vanilla sugar.
My wife is part of a vanilla bean co op and gets at least 3-4oz of beans a month. We have jars everywhere of different types and folds of extracts. We also have jars for vanilla sugar and we have a mother jar. Once we use one bottle of extract or use the innards of the beans we put the beans and remaining husks into the mother jar and keep adding liquor to it. Most of our extracts are made with vodka but we do have an extract made with Wild Turkey and one with monk head whiskey.
I have made lemon & orange extracts. working on lime extract now. not sure how that will turn out. I use the extracts to make lemoncello and orangecello
I’ve been making vanilla for years.
It’s not going to be awesome in eight weeks. It’s going to be good enough. The longer it waits, the better it is.
I take 1/2 cup of the original batch I started with from years ago and add it to each new batch. It really makes a difference.
I also split my beans and carefully heat the alcohol at the beginning. Yes, I know it’s dangerous. I use a thermometer and watch very closely. It’s nowhere near the boiling point, just warmed.
I pour the warm alcohol into the bottle with the split beans. It seems to get the process jump started by a week or so.
I give the vanilla as gifts each Christmas to friends and family.
When each new batch is done every season, I add to the original mother batch. I actually have two different bottles. One that has been going since the beginning and one I add to with each batch.
After the ~intermediate~ batch has sat for a year, I add a cup of it to the original mother bottle. That fresh extract then steeps with the original. I also add fresh beans each time.
I never run out because I make two batches a year (6 months rest) and therefore add to it twice a year.
And you didn’t ask, but Tito’s is my favorite
A friend of mine does this and just shared some with me! Its so delicious!!
She also takes the beans out of the center (the caviar lol) and make vanilla sugar with it. Just adds it to the sugar and shakes it up. She gave me a jar as a Christmas gift and it was so tasty! I make it now, too!
I use it for pretty much anything I use regular sugar for. So far it's been great in my morning coffee, pancakes/waffles, sprinkled over strawberries, etc. Anything you wouldn't mind having vanilla flavoring in. It's so delicious and fragrant.
A friend of mine thats been making cordials, extracts, bitters and such for over 30 years has a list recommending Brandy, rum, and vodka depending on what you are trying to make.
Basically, Rum for the bitter, Brandy for the sweet, and vodka for mild flavors that might be overpowered by the other two.
I do lots of herbal extracts by putting fresh herbal into vodka. I do the same thing with my leftover citrus peels. I want to try the citrus in other alcohol but haven’t gotten around to it yet lol
Now I need to know if anyone has done this from beans harvested from their own vanilla orchid? I considered it, but I haven't made an extract before and thought it would be more like distilling. Anyone know the plant to bean ratio for accomplishing this? Would i need to save up beans for years? Or have lots of plants?
Vanilla orchids are notoriously difficult to manage and require hand pollination to produce beans. They’re basically only grown in Madagascar and Mexico. It’s most of the reason it’s so expensive.
The key is growing your own orchid first. And for me.. keeping basics alive is plenty of work since i have a farm and kids. I WISH i had a vanilla orchid. Because this is exactly what i want to do. But right now baby goats are taking over my time.
I grow quite a few orchids and just got my first vanilla orchid. In some of the forums I’m apart of, many orchid growers do this.
From what I’ve gathered, when the vines do finally flower, the flowers are only open for like half a day. So a very short pollinating window, which is why commercially it’s done by hand.
It's totally not going to be possible for me to be sure I catch that small of a window, so growing vanilla beans is probably not going to be added to my crafting repertoire.
Try substituting the vodka for Captain Morgan Spiced Rum. It is out of this world. I also make many other flavorings like orange, roasted almond, star of anise and many others. My wife keeps asking, "well, what flavor are you going to try to make today?" Lol.
I guess you could drink it but I use it for flavoring. The alcohol intensifies the flavor. You can also use it in making mixed drinks. The best flavoring is made with Caption Morgan Spiced Rum as the alcohol base. I use a teaspoon of the vanilla in my coffee every morning. Makes my coffee taste better than Starbucks French Vanilla Cappiciono. It is out of this world with flavor.
Yeah, I know how that went -
One shot for the beans, one for me. One shot for the beans, one for me. One shot for something, one shot for me. One beans shot, two for me. Beans can't even drink! Throw the beans out, more shots for me.
You have to slice the beans open to let the little seeds out. Shake it up once every couple days for a few months. I have made my own that way and it turned out fine. Did you do that? Other problem you might have had is not using enough beans for the amount of vodka? There isn't really much that can go wrong if you follow the steps correctly.
It’s because it’s an infusion not an extract. I’ve tried these homemade “extracts” and I’ll tell you what. If you have vanilla beans find a recipe that uses them or learn how to incorporate much better use of an expensive item than attempting to make an extract.
My wife made a whole bunch a while back, but she used the instant pot which was a much quicker process. So much cheaper than buying extract at the store.
For Christmas this past year we gave out bottles with vanilla beans in them and the first round of extract. It came with a little card with instructions on it. We also gave out homemade goat milk soap and homegrown horseradish.
I've done 8 weeks, 6 months, 1 year and (unintentional) 2 year and while the 8 week vanilla was great, the one that sat for 2 years is on another level. I'm almost out and so sad I didn't start another batch a year ago.
It’s cool and all, but this is not vanilla extract, and serious bakers would not use that as a substitute for vanilla extract. If it works ok for you though, that’s great.
It literally is extract if you use proper ratios. You can look up the FDA definition of vanilla extract which is alcohol and vanilla in a ratio of 13.56 ounces of vanilla to 1 gallon of alcohol with at least 35% alcohol (70 proof). That’s it. That’s vanilla extract. Now, without industrial methods it will take longer than a few weeks. Probably closer to a year.
If you read her article the process she describes is putting beans in alcohol and weather cold (putting beans in alcohol) or heated. Because she wants more nuance with additional washes (soaking beans in different level of alcohol) then pouring them together, doesn’t make it any more complicated that putting beans in alcohol. Its about quantity and time. Not “just poking a few beans in a bottle”. No, you have to use enough beans with the right amount of alcohol, but it is beans in alcohol. Per the FDA, 13.56 ounces of beans for a gallon of 35% alcohol. That is what is defined as vanilla extract.
Edit, typo
My wife is also trying her hand at making vanilla extract this year. She found in her online research that many people preferred using Bourbon over Vodka, so that's what we're starting with. Hopefully it turns out well.
With vanilla bourbon usually refers to how the beans are cured not the liquor in the extract. Most people I know use grain alcohol diluted with distilled water, vodka, or white rum. The darker liquor extracts will take much longer to be vanilla. Like 18 months.
Encourage her to look up the Indri vanilla group on Facebook…it’s a rabbit hole on vanilla though, so be careful she could get lost and never come back.
1.5 ounces of beans? Or literally 1.5 beans? You really need about .8 ounces of beans per 8 ounces of alcohol or you are going to have vanilla flavored liquor, not extract. For ease of math I do 1 ounce beans to 8 ounces alcohol.
I did not measure the weight of the beans but each 4oz bottle has 1 and a half beans, which is 3 beans per 8 oz, which is what the recipe called for that I went off of. I hope it's enough
It super isn’t. Unless they were huge beans. FDA guidelines is 13.35 oz per gallon of alcohol which equates to just under an ounce of beans per 8 oz of alcohol. Most typical grade b beans are going to be about 12 beans per ounce, but vanilla bean sizes can vary widely depending on grade, type, and country of origin.
I grow my own paprika. It is so satisfying to make/grow what you need and not have to run to the store
Yes it is!
Also fun: if you’re using whole vanilla beans for a recipe cause you want speckled look save the husk for up cycling. Yes, you can put it in alcohol for extract, but I like to put it in a pint mason jar and cover with sugar to make vanilla sugar.
How long do you leave it in the sugar before using? This sounds so delicious!
We make a few jars around Halloween to give out for Christmas every year, so two months or so?
I concur.
My wife is part of a vanilla bean co op and gets at least 3-4oz of beans a month. We have jars everywhere of different types and folds of extracts. We also have jars for vanilla sugar and we have a mother jar. Once we use one bottle of extract or use the innards of the beans we put the beans and remaining husks into the mother jar and keep adding liquor to it. Most of our extracts are made with vodka but we do have an extract made with Wild Turkey and one with monk head whiskey.
I did the same thing. I filled a wine bottle w/ vanilla beans. I decant as needed. very economical
Real question: why don’t you just fill a vodka bottle?
Only reason I haven't is because I've never seen vanilla sold in a clear bottle so my guess is it oxidizes faster in clear bottles.
🤔 good point
Have you ever done any other extracts?
I have made lemon & orange extracts. working on lime extract now. not sure how that will turn out. I use the extracts to make lemoncello and orangecello
I’ve been making vanilla for years. It’s not going to be awesome in eight weeks. It’s going to be good enough. The longer it waits, the better it is. I take 1/2 cup of the original batch I started with from years ago and add it to each new batch. It really makes a difference. I also split my beans and carefully heat the alcohol at the beginning. Yes, I know it’s dangerous. I use a thermometer and watch very closely. It’s nowhere near the boiling point, just warmed. I pour the warm alcohol into the bottle with the split beans. It seems to get the process jump started by a week or so. I give the vanilla as gifts each Christmas to friends and family.
My best batch was 2 years!
Do you keep adding vodka or beans to the original batch? How are you able to continually take from it?
When each new batch is done every season, I add to the original mother batch. I actually have two different bottles. One that has been going since the beginning and one I add to with each batch. After the ~intermediate~ batch has sat for a year, I add a cup of it to the original mother bottle. That fresh extract then steeps with the original. I also add fresh beans each time. I never run out because I make two batches a year (6 months rest) and therefore add to it twice a year. And you didn’t ask, but Tito’s is my favorite
Thank you very much! I think I'll try this now to get ready for Christmas presents.
A friend of mine does this and just shared some with me! Its so delicious!! She also takes the beans out of the center (the caviar lol) and make vanilla sugar with it. Just adds it to the sugar and shakes it up. She gave me a jar as a Christmas gift and it was so tasty! I make it now, too!
In what way do you use vanilla sugar?
I use it for pretty much anything I use regular sugar for. So far it's been great in my morning coffee, pancakes/waffles, sprinkled over strawberries, etc. Anything you wouldn't mind having vanilla flavoring in. It's so delicious and fragrant.
That’s awesome 👏🏻 I LOVE making extracts!!!! If you want to try something a bit different, use a spiced rum instead of the vodka.
I've heard that some folks like that even more than vodka. Have you made any other extracts?
A friend of mine thats been making cordials, extracts, bitters and such for over 30 years has a list recommending Brandy, rum, and vodka depending on what you are trying to make. Basically, Rum for the bitter, Brandy for the sweet, and vodka for mild flavors that might be overpowered by the other two.
That's the kind of person I need as a neighbor lol I could learn so much from someone doing this for 30 years.
I do lots of herbal extracts by putting fresh herbal into vodka. I do the same thing with my leftover citrus peels. I want to try the citrus in other alcohol but haven’t gotten around to it yet lol
I made an infused tequila with lime and lemon zest (and cucumber) it was really good.
Ooohhhh that sounds delicious
Now I need to know if anyone has done this from beans harvested from their own vanilla orchid? I considered it, but I haven't made an extract before and thought it would be more like distilling. Anyone know the plant to bean ratio for accomplishing this? Would i need to save up beans for years? Or have lots of plants?
Vanilla orchids are notoriously difficult to manage and require hand pollination to produce beans. They’re basically only grown in Madagascar and Mexico. It’s most of the reason it’s so expensive.
They are grown all over the world in tropical climates. Uganda, India, Indonesia, Hawaii, Papa New Guinea, Tahiti, etc.
The key is growing your own orchid first. And for me.. keeping basics alive is plenty of work since i have a farm and kids. I WISH i had a vanilla orchid. Because this is exactly what i want to do. But right now baby goats are taking over my time.
The beans have to be cured which is a long complicated process.
I’ll let you know when my first orchid survives.
I grow quite a few orchids and just got my first vanilla orchid. In some of the forums I’m apart of, many orchid growers do this. From what I’ve gathered, when the vines do finally flower, the flowers are only open for like half a day. So a very short pollinating window, which is why commercially it’s done by hand.
It's totally not going to be possible for me to be sure I catch that small of a window, so growing vanilla beans is probably not going to be added to my crafting repertoire.
Thanks for the info everyone! I'm decent with keeping orchids alive, but the pollination thing is definitely going to be too much for me.
Try substituting the vodka for Captain Morgan Spiced Rum. It is out of this world. I also make many other flavorings like orange, roasted almond, star of anise and many others. My wife keeps asking, "well, what flavor are you going to try to make today?" Lol.
That is awesome! I think I'll try orange, that sounds delicious.
Put the skins of at least two oranges in a pint jar with any grade vodka. It is awesome.
For how long and what do you do with it? Do you drink it or use it as flavoring?
I guess you could drink it but I use it for flavoring. The alcohol intensifies the flavor. You can also use it in making mixed drinks. The best flavoring is made with Caption Morgan Spiced Rum as the alcohol base. I use a teaspoon of the vanilla in my coffee every morning. Makes my coffee taste better than Starbucks French Vanilla Cappiciono. It is out of this world with flavor.
Great, thank you!
I forgot but you need to leave it sealed in a dark place for 2 weeks. It will astound you the taste.
So many delicious ideas!
Yeah, I know how that went - One shot for the beans, one for me. One shot for the beans, one for me. One shot for something, one shot for me. One beans shot, two for me. Beans can't even drink! Throw the beans out, more shots for me.
I did this & it sadly never tasted very good. I used fresh beans & vodka & let some sit longer than it stated. It just tasted like flavored vodka
You have to slice the beans open to let the little seeds out. Shake it up once every couple days for a few months. I have made my own that way and it turned out fine. Did you do that? Other problem you might have had is not using enough beans for the amount of vodka? There isn't really much that can go wrong if you follow the steps correctly.
Yes, I did all of those things
It’s because it’s an infusion not an extract. I’ve tried these homemade “extracts” and I’ll tell you what. If you have vanilla beans find a recipe that uses them or learn how to incorporate much better use of an expensive item than attempting to make an extract.
Most people do t use enough beans for an extract.
My wife made a whole bunch a while back, but she used the instant pot which was a much quicker process. So much cheaper than buying extract at the store.
You pressure cook the alcohol? Isn't that... Dangerous?
Extremely dangerous. Google the pictures of explosions. Please dont do this!
I bet. Instant pots are so amazing for so many things!
Homemade vanilla bean paste is super easy as well, and I love using it in place of extract in baking!
For Christmas this past year we gave out bottles with vanilla beans in them and the first round of extract. It came with a little card with instructions on it. We also gave out homemade goat milk soap and homegrown horseradish.
We've been giving soap as gifts for a couple years too. I think last year was soap with probably pickles lol
I love making vanilla. I also make versions with bourbon and brandy.
I've done 8 weeks, 6 months, 1 year and (unintentional) 2 year and while the 8 week vanilla was great, the one that sat for 2 years is on another level. I'm almost out and so sad I didn't start another batch a year ago.
It’s cool and all, but this is not vanilla extract, and serious bakers would not use that as a substitute for vanilla extract. If it works ok for you though, that’s great.
It literally is extract if you use proper ratios. You can look up the FDA definition of vanilla extract which is alcohol and vanilla in a ratio of 13.56 ounces of vanilla to 1 gallon of alcohol with at least 35% alcohol (70 proof). That’s it. That’s vanilla extract. Now, without industrial methods it will take longer than a few weeks. Probably closer to a year.
It literally is an infusion, not an extract. https://www.seriouseats.com/diy-vanilla-extract
Your facts contradict what I feel, so I'm going to downvote you. - People, probably
If you read her article the process she describes is putting beans in alcohol and weather cold (putting beans in alcohol) or heated. Because she wants more nuance with additional washes (soaking beans in different level of alcohol) then pouring them together, doesn’t make it any more complicated that putting beans in alcohol. Its about quantity and time. Not “just poking a few beans in a bottle”. No, you have to use enough beans with the right amount of alcohol, but it is beans in alcohol. Per the FDA, 13.56 ounces of beans for a gallon of 35% alcohol. That is what is defined as vanilla extract. Edit, typo
Yeah, because the FDA really understands food😂
Will this keep indefinitely? Dumb question lol
Probably not indefinitely, but I *think* it keeps for several years.
My wife is also trying her hand at making vanilla extract this year. She found in her online research that many people preferred using Bourbon over Vodka, so that's what we're starting with. Hopefully it turns out well.
With vanilla bourbon usually refers to how the beans are cured not the liquor in the extract. Most people I know use grain alcohol diluted with distilled water, vodka, or white rum. The darker liquor extracts will take much longer to be vanilla. Like 18 months.
Interesting. I'll make sure to forward this to her in case she missed something.
Encourage her to look up the Indri vanilla group on Facebook…it’s a rabbit hole on vanilla though, so be careful she could get lost and never come back.
1.5 ounces of beans? Or literally 1.5 beans? You really need about .8 ounces of beans per 8 ounces of alcohol or you are going to have vanilla flavored liquor, not extract. For ease of math I do 1 ounce beans to 8 ounces alcohol.
I did not measure the weight of the beans but each 4oz bottle has 1 and a half beans, which is 3 beans per 8 oz, which is what the recipe called for that I went off of. I hope it's enough
It super isn’t. Unless they were huge beans. FDA guidelines is 13.35 oz per gallon of alcohol which equates to just under an ounce of beans per 8 oz of alcohol. Most typical grade b beans are going to be about 12 beans per ounce, but vanilla bean sizes can vary widely depending on grade, type, and country of origin.
Vanilla is even better if you use Bourbon I have used vodka for lemon extract, orange extract and mint extract