Homemade Vanilla Extract

If you go through my baking recipes, you’ll see that most every one has pure vanilla extract as an important ingredient. Vanilla adds that special quality to baked goods. With the crazy price that store bought vanilla is these days, due to its labour-intensive hand pollinating the vanilla flower production process, and with the quality questionable for a lot of brands that I have tried, I started to make my own vanilla extract. It is so simple to make. You only need a few items and a few minutes to start the process. Then you wait, and give the bottles a shake every week. The longer you wait, the stronger in flavour the extract will be. Best of all it’s fun to make, is replenishable ongoing (more on that below) and it makes a great and very welcome gift to a fellow foodie!

There are surprising health benefits to vanilla extract. Vanilla is an antioxidant, an anti-inflammatory and like cocoa and cacao, is an aphrodisiac – maybe that’s why chocolate and vanilla go so well together in baking. Smelling vanilla produces a calming effect and supports sleep. I’ve read that a few drops of vanilla (like clove oil) on a cotton ball placed on an aching tooth can bring relief to the pain.

There are different vanilla beans you can buy to make your own extract. This is the one my research has found is a good one to purchase to make your homemade vanilla extract – the Madagascar Vanilla Bean. Tahitian vanilla beans are also good but my best results have been with the Madagascar bean. I buy 20 beans as I like to make my vanilla extract rich using 10 beans in each of the alcohols I use.

I like to make 2 alcohol types of vanilla extract – one with bourbon and the other with vodka. The bourbon version is fabulous and adds an infusion of the rich essence of bourbon to the vanilla. The other I use is vodka. Vodka adds no flavour to the vanilla so what you get is vanilla – straight.

Next, you’ll need some glass bottles or jars with tight fitting tops – they need to be a little taller than the vanilla bean length.

So, the vanilla beans, the alcohol you want to steep and infuse the beans in, glass bottles, a cutting board and a sharp knife and you are ready to start. Oh, and some masking tape and a sharpie to label your brew.

I hope you give making your own homemade vanilla extract a try!

As always, when you make this recipe, I would love to see your creation so please post a photo of your Homemade Vanilla Extract goodness and tag my IG account #RenataCollective or leave a comment with your thoughts!

Prep Time: 5 minutes / Steeping Time: 12 weeks - 6 months / Makes: 2 x 500 ml (2 x 2 cups)

Ingredients

Vanilla Beans – 20 x Madagascar Vanilla Beans
2 Cups Bourbon
2 Cups Vodka

How It’s Made

Take the vanilla beans and divide them into 2 groups of 10.
You need to cut each vanilla bean down its length but not all the way through. You want to do this to open up the bean to allow the alcohol to draw out the bean paste essence.
Place 10 cut beans in each glass bottle.
Pour the bourbon in the one bottle and the vodka in the other.
Secure the top on the bottle and give it a shake.
Label each bottle with the alcohol used and the date.
Place it on a shelf away from direct sunlight.
Put a note in your calendar as a reminder to give each bottle a good shake once a week. (I always sing “Shake shake shake, shake shake shake, Shake My Vanilla, Shake My Vanilla!” Apologies to KC and the Sunshine Band!)
The vanilla will need a minimum of 12 weeks (3 months) to be ready to use. You *can* use it earlier but it won’t be as flavourful as waiting. I like giving my vanilla 16 weeks (4 months) and it’s best if it can brew even longer.
Once it gets to just above the half way used mark, I take out some of the vanilla to a smaller glass container, I add fresh beans along with the beans in the bottle and top up the alcohol again and let it brew on the shelf – giving it a good weekly shake as always. Since it has a good base of flavour, you can use it before the 12 weeks but if you give it the 12 weeks the rich flavour is a wonderful reward for your patience!

Enjoy!