Homemade Vanilla

Get an early start on this great Christmas Gift. 

Well I made this last year for Christmas and it was a big hit. Great for all those people you would like to get something for but just don’t know what, including but not limited to, teachers, pastors, secretaries, and grandmas.

I found lots of different recipes online and talked with a few friends, who have made vanilla, then I threw most of that out and did whatever I wanted and it came out great. So here was my process…

Ingredients:

Vanilla beans (I used 10-12)
Vodka (though I read you can use rum too, most people say vodka)

Large Glass Jars with tight lids

Small (4oz) Glass Jars with lids (for the individual gift size once your vanilla is ready)

Knife or Kitchen Scissors.

Small Funnel

Time (about 2 months)

First I researched vanilla beans, it seems that vanilla beans are sort of like wine, in that they come with hints of this and hints of that. I found a really great comprehensive overview of vanilla beans on the Vanilla Garlic blog. I then selected Mexican Vanilla beans to make my vanilla, and purchased them from ebay.

Here is my step by step process…

Wash some large glass jars. I used quart canning jars ‘cause I had them, you can use any glass jar with a tight lid, I also used 2 in order to make the quantity that I wanted. Again you can make as much or as little as you would like at a time.

Cut the beans up the middle to about an inch of the top (so they stay together).

Put the beans into the glass jar(s) I had about 4 in each jar.

Pour vodka in, and close lid tightly.

Shake (a lot).

 

Put in a dark cool spot (our basement was perfect). Here is the progression of our vanilla.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 14

Let it sit for about 2 months. Shake about every week or so.

Day 60 (ish)

 

Prepping for the small glass jars.

I cut my vanilla beans all the way through now so I had half a bean for each jar. This allows for my recipients to have unlimited vanilla (more on that latter.)

Put 1/2 a bean in each small glass jar.

Pour vanilla into the small jars, a little funnel makes this so much easier and less messy. I found my funnel in the camping sections of Walmart or Target (I forget)





Attaching a label to your jar is a nice finishing touch. The label should tell them to shake the vanilla before using it (to get the best flavor).

My label also includes instructions on how to make your vanilla last forever. What you wanna know how to do that too… Well here it is…

When you use about half of your vanilla from your container fill with more vodka shake and let sit for a week or so, then you have vanilla ready to go. If you refilled after every use you would ALWAYs have vanilla ready to go. It is just that simple.