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Homemade Vanilla Extract
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Homemade Vanilla Extract

Making your own homemade vanilla extract is incredibly easy and only requires 2 ingredients (vanilla beans and alcohol) plus a little time and patience.

Prep Time
10 mins
Total Time
60 d
Course: Condiments
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

  • 6 to 10 to 10 Vanilla Beans split
  • 2 cups vodka or other alcohol

Instructions

    Cup of Yum
  1. Split vanilla beans and scrape out seeds. You can also use empty pods leftover from other recipes (though you'll need more beans to make an equal strength extract). Cut pods into smaller pieces if desired.
  2. Place beans into a glass jar or bottle. Fill with alcohol and seal with an airtight lid. Give it a good shake or two to evenly distribute the vanilla.
  3. Store jars in a cool dark place, gently shaking the mixture here and there to ensure even distribution. For best results, allow to steep for at least two months, if not longer. The extract will get better with age.
  4. Strain out solids prior to using. You can also top off the bottle with more alcohol as you use it, and add more beans whenever you have some leftover. Occasionally you may also want to strain out the old vanilla beans and replace them with fresh beans.

Notes

  • * Using more beans will yield a stronger extract in shorter amount of time. You can also use split pods leftover from other recipes (rinse the pod if it's been steeped in cream, for example), o
  • nce you’ve scraped out the seeds for your other recipe, simply cut up the empty pod and add it to your extract.
  • * Using more beans will yield a stronger extract in shorter amount of time. You can also use split pods leftover from other recipes (rinse the pod if it's been steeped in cream, for example), once you’ve scraped out the seeds for your other recipe, simply cut up the empty pod and add it to your extract.