HomeMade Vanilla?

Has anybody ever tried it?

I've been making my own vanilla now for several years. It's fantastic to give as part of Christmas presents.

I just ordered vanilla beans from eBay and will buy two bottles of vodka at the liquor store tomorrow morning. I'll have enough beans to make two complete bottles of vanilla, plus a few beans leftover for some vanilla sugar. Yum! And, at a fraction of what vanilla costs in the grocery store.

I buy bottles online (usually 4 and 8 ounces). Make my own labels with the date the finished vanilla was poured into each bottle. I add one split and scraped vanilla bean to each bottle, too. A pretty ribbon finishes the bottle and it's ready to go.

My MIL now would rather use the vanilla I make than the store stuff. And several of my GFs who bake love it, too. Once they finish the bottle, they'll give the bottle back to me for a refill.

Bottle sources:
http://www.ebottles.com/?gclid=CK2k9...FcFo4AodZkK5gQ
http://www.bottlesetc.com/glass_containers_bottles_jars

When it comes to recipes, I have no closely guarded secrets!

MAKING VANILLA AND VANILLA SUGAR

12 vanilla beans
Fifth of good vodka

Slice the beans in half lengthwise and use the knife to scrape down the inside of the bean to get the vanilla. Add the beans (24 halves) and the vanilla scrapings to the bourbon. Put the bottle on the kitchen counter, back in the back where it doesn't get much light. About once a week or so, rotate the bottle. That's pretty much it. Be patient....good vanilla can take several months. It's not something that will happen quickly. I let mine go for six months before I use it.
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You can use bourbon, vodka, brandy or rum. Vodka makes an amazing vanilla. Buy the absolute best liquor you can get because good liquor is key.
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Use vanilla beans that are supple. If they're dry, they're older beans.
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VANILLA SUGAR

If you want to try making your own vanilla sugar, split one or two beans lengthwise and add all halves to about 1½ to 2 cups of granulated sugar. Let it stand for about 2-3 weeks before using.

Well, here's what I found....I've never done it. I wouldn't think that it would be as strong as what the store variety would be. But who knows?? And now? I'm curious!

Erica, I'll trade you a bottle of vanilla extract for a bottle of orange extract. Would that be OK?
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Homemade Orange and Lemon Extract

2 or 3 lemons (or 3 oranges)
Vodka to cover
1 small mason jar and lid

1. Wash your lemons and/or oranges.

2. Get a very sharp little knife ready.

3. Have nice clean jars to put them into. Needs a nice screw on lid.

4. Peel, extremely thinly, 3 or 4 lemons (or 3 oranges). Place the peels into a mason jar as you are peeling them.

5. When you have all your peels in your jar, fill the jar with Vodka.

6. Secure the lid and give it a couple of shakes. This is important, you want to see if anything floats. Whatever floats completely to the top, you remove that piece of peel. It means you have left too much of the white part of the lemon or orange attached.

I peel mine in short strips. Long strips tend to float to the top when maybe they don't have too much white left on them. So if you have along strip that is floating, tear the strip into smaller pieces. Give the jar another shake. This will either work completely and nothing now floats, or if a part of that strip did have had too much white left on it, that part only will float to the top so you can remove it.

7. You let your jars sit for 2 weeks, shaking them once or twice each day. At the end of 2 weeks, you remove all the peels from the jar and replace them with a fresh batch of peels. You let this sit another 2 weeks, shaking once or twice each day and at the end of this second two weeks, the extract is ready to use. This keeps indefinitely. Just store it as you do your other extracts.

As for using zest, I never do. Since you have to remove it all and replace it with fresh, removing all that zest wouldn't be fun, you could strain it, but in order to get all the zest out of there, you would have to use a cheese cloth. Then you will also be letting some of the extracted essence to be absorb by the cloth. Also there are lots of recipes that I use this in and I wouldn't want any flecks of lemon or orange to be there. The third reason is that as the extract is used, you can add more Vodka and remove the lemon strips and place more fresh strips of lemon peel in there. The whole slices of peel are just the best way to go with this.
Note: The original recipe said you could use rum instead of vodka. I would be hesitant because vodka doesn't really have much of a taste, so the citrus taste might come through better. Rum can be pretty strong.

I've heard that even a crappy vodka will do for vanilla, but I'm going with Grey Goose.

The last few times I made vanilla, I used Wild Turkey bourbon; one time I used Old Grandad. Now that was some good vanilla! But I'm going to try it with vodka this time because a lot of people I've talked to say that the vodka is really good, too. Of course, I'm going to have enough vanilla beans that I could do one of each.

I love your jar, Erica. Mason jars work fine for what you're doing. I did post some links to jars. But....I've also used chili sauce bottles, Worcestershire bottles, and the link. Sterilized them in the dishwasher, bottles and tops. I figure it's OK to do that because once you open a regular bottle of vanilla, you're just storing it in the cabinet anyway. I like to use bottles with different shapes, too, to add a little interest.

If you're really serious about trying it, I recommend VanillaProducts on eBay. A woman from a food board that I post on told me about them. I ordered 25 beans and they came yesterday (Monday). Very nice beans! They're nice and long and very supple. Not dried out at all. For $20, I got 25 Grade A Madagascar beans and they gave me 10 Grade B Tahitian beans. (Don't ask me what the difference is....all I know is that Madagascar beans smell more pungent? But there's certainly nothing wrong with the Tahitian beans either!) The package smelled amazing!

I will use at least 12 split beans in each fifth of liquor, so there will be enough beans left over that I can add a split bean to each little bottle when the vanilla is ready to be used. Plus, I can make vanilla sugar with some of the beans, too.

Here's a link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/25-Gourmet-G...item439bfb9e4e

I normally buy my beans from Penzey, but honestly, they're getting way too expensive. So when she told me about eBay, I jumped. Paid for them through PayPal. (I am not affiliated in any way with VanillaProducts, just thought I'd mention them if anybody is interested in trying this.)

She may not....I really don't know. She may just pack the beans in a large jar and add the vodka. I prefer to split the beans lengthwise and scrape the bean halves and then add the scrapings to my bottle of liquor along with the beans themselves.

Some people just cut the beans into thirds and plop them into the jar that way. I guess it really doesn't matter. I scrape because I like the flavor of the finished product.

You can use vodka, rum, bourbon, or even brandy, if you'd like. I think it's really up to you. I think I said that I've used bourbon in the past and I'm going to do vodka this time. But I know people who have used brandy and they really liked that, too.

Here's another bottle site and they have some nice bottles. You don't have to buy a case of them; you can purchase what you need, although the price is cheaper, the more you buy. http://www.specialtybottle.com/

You could check out Pier 1, too; they might have nice bottles, if you want to get a little fancy.

If you make it now and want to use it now for Christmas presents, make sure you tell the people you give it to that they cannot use it right away. Good vanilla takes a few months. Tell them to put it in a dark place and turn the bottle about once a week. Don't shake, just rotate the bottle a few turns. That's it.

Crazyforinfo, I'm interested in how you make your vanilla sugar scrub!

I just love the smell of vanilla.

Actually, Ina is one of the two people on the Food Network that I can stand to watch. Alton Brown is the other one...and his show ended. I simply can't watch Rachel Ray or Paula Dean. Rachel's "EVOO" and "Yummo!" or whatever it is is just too over-the-top for me and I gave her up a long time ago. And Paula just curdles my corpuscles....that Southern accent is way, way, false. She didn't used to be that bad and it's a shame that she felt she had to become a caricature of herself just to sell books and such. (JMO....your mileage may vary, and that's fine, too. It would be a boring world if we all liked the same things! )

And Ina, too, gets on my nerves with all the Hampton stuff....I mean, I get it; she can afford to live there and that's fine. And I don't enjoy watching her friends. But I do love watching her in the kitchen, just cooking...although, I guess it's a barn kitchen now, since she built a set exactly like her house kitchen in a barn for filming purposes.

There was a recall out on Paula's cookware she had for sale; the stuff was that bad. That was listed in Consumer Reports. And when Cook's Illustrated did a review on cookware, they listed Rachel Ray's stuff as "Not Recommended" for various reasons. Just because a name is on the product doesn't automatically mean it's a good product. But I was watching QVC the other night for a few minutes and Rachel was on, hawking her cookware. And it was selling like crazy.

I do wish the Food Network would get back to cooking instead of all the contests and the Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives type of shows. I hardly ever bother to watch the channel anymore because they've lost the whole concept. (Again, JMO)

You know, one of the nicest sets of cookware is Tramontina. In a review several years ago, Cooks Illustrated rated that set second, only to All-Clad. And the only reason it wasn't rated higher was because of the skillet pan sizes and the fact that the skillet pans had no lids. Tramontina is, kind of, the generic version of All-Clad at a wee fraction of the price. When I bought my set a few years ago, I paid less than $150 for the set, which included the small and large skillets, the 1-quart saucepan, 2-quart saucepan, 3-quart saucepan, and the Dutch oven.

If you decide to look for it, look for the Tramontina in 18/10 tri-clad stainless. That's important because it's heavy, like All-clad and honestly, it's really hard to tell the difference between the two. As much as I would love to have all of my stuff All-Clad, I can't afford it. And I can't justify it either. I do have an All-Clad saucier and a large turkey roaster. But heavens, All-Clad is expensive. The Tramontina is very nice cookware and it won't cost you an arm and a leg. And it holds up!

I don't have nonstick, simply because I don't like it and nonstick pans do not hold up over time. And you can't put nonstick in ovens higher than 400 degrees, I think it is....could be wrong about that. I have one nonstick skillet that I use for omelets. That's it. The Tramontina works well. I spray it with Pam and I do everything in it. It cleans up well. And I get lots of nice, yummy fond when I'm sauting, that is wonderful for making gravy and sauces!

When my niece got married, she was determined to have all All-Clad in her kitchen. But when she started cooking with me and started using my cookware, she changed her mind and she has Tramontina now, too. And she's very happy with it. Again, All-Clad is super nice stuff, but it's really, really expensive, too.

You do not need to pay a fortune for cookware and you will still get great results! Tramontina can be found at Target and at WalMart. The only thing is that, while I think All-Clad is made in the US, Tramontina is made in Italy. I think it's Italy....some of it could be China.

Oh and, a lot of people will tell you not to invest in a bunch of nonstick cookware. The reason is because, no matter how careful you are, the nonstick will eventually go bad. They'll tell you to buy a good, but cheap nonstick skillet for omelets and such, use it for a couple of years and then replace it when the surface gets scratchy.

Bless you! I'm always afraid that I'm boring people to death when I start talking about food!