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.

Originally Posted by Winchester

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.

Click to expand...

What a great idea! What size of bottles do you put them in and such?

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

Never thought of making my own vanilla essence! Would you post the recipe or is it a closely guarded secret?

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.
\t
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.
\t
Use vanilla beans that are supple. If they're dry, they're older beans.
\t

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.

I was just reading about making your own a few weeks ago.
http://tipnut.com/homemade-vanilla-extract/

My Mom's friend was talking about how she does that a few years ago when she visited. She claims it's the best and she'll never go back to store bought! I haven't gotten around to trying yet though!

That sounds great! I've already warned people they're getting mostly homemade presents for xmas and birthdays this year, like edible stuff and maybe handmade ornaments or some other craft things that I haven't thought of yet. I wish so badly our oranges were ripe a few months earlier, because then I could send out jars of candied orange peels. I can do candied lemon peels, and I have, but people seem to prefer the orange peels. So they have to wait until February or so for that.

Anyway, my point here is to ask- do you think I could make lemon extract? Like with lemon peels maybe, since that's where the oil is? Any thoughts on that? Or any other long-term lemony stuff you know of? I also finally have a rosemary bush growing, and I just love to snap off a needle/leaf and take a whiff. So fresh! I'm sure I could do something with that too, but maybe next year when it's a bt bigger. But for now (and always ), LEMONS!

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?
________________________________________________________________

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.

Originally Posted by Winchester

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

Click to expand...

And that's why I love you so much! LOL

That sounds awesome and I just might try that one of these days, sooooo easy!

Thanks, Pam! I will try lemon extract sometime soon, and orange extract when the oranges are ready. Some are starting to turn color on the tree already, but most are still green. Like I said, February or so would probably be the best time to start. But I would absolutely love to trade a citrus for a vanilla! May I ask what kind of nice little bottles you use? I just use little mason jars and glue a circle of fabric cut with pinking shears on the lid under the ring for my candied peels. (which I could also send if you like- they are really like candy!)

Thanks for the recipe. Looks like I could enjoy a tipple or two while making it.

Oh- by the way, what vodka should I use? Something like Grey Goose or Ketel One? I don't know spirits like I know beer.

Originally Posted by DarkMavis

Oh- by the way, what vodka should I use? Something like Grey Goose or Ketel One? I don't know spirits like I know beer.

Click to expand...

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.

The Barefoot Contessa (chef in Western Canada) uses the vodka as well. She does not split the beans nor take out the seeds. She uses the whole pod and lets it sit for 6 months. You can still use the seeds from the beans in other recipes - just squeeze them out (they are like a nice paste with the tiny beans in it).

Originally Posted by Yosemite

The Barefoot Contessa (chef in Western Canada) uses the vodka as well. She does not split the beans nor take out the seeds. She uses the whole pod and lets it sit for 6 months. You can still use the seeds from the beans in other recipes - just squeeze them out (they are like a nice paste with the tiny beans in it).

Click to expand...

She isn't Canadian and not even in the west anywhere - based in the Hamptons. East coast Canadian chef, Michael Smith, just puts the whole bean in vodka. The only Western Canadian chef to have had a show is Rob Feenie; he also beat Morimoto in the original Iron Chef.

I saw something like this at Mast General the other night and really thought about getting it. It was called Never Ending Vanilla or something like that. It came with 3 beans that you were supossed to slit and then cover with rum or bourbon I believe is what it said and let set for so long. And then whenever you used it you replaced that much with the same liquor and it would be good for years and years.
I'm seriously thinking about doing this. i hate buying vanilla and I use a lot of it!

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.)

Originally Posted by sk_pacer

She isn't Canadian and not even in the west anywhere - based in the Hamptons. East coast Canadian chef, Michael Smith, just puts the whole bean in vodka. The only Western Canadian chef to have had a show is Rob Feenie; he also beat Morimoto in the original Iron Chef.

Click to expand...

I stand corrected. I watched her on the Food Network and somehow got the impression she was in the west. At any rate, it doesn't change the fact that she uses the whole bean without splitting it.