Making Vanilla Extract

This is actually a post I was going to write 6 years ago.  Truly, the draft date on it says 5/3/14.  And I never got around to writing it because??  Life got in the way, I guess.  Or I thought no one would be interested?

Anyway, I'm writing it now.

I can't remember how long I've been making my own vanilla extract.  At least six years; I'm guessing more like ten or twelve.  Old frugal habits just don't die for me.

Is making vanilla extract really frugal?

If you're asking: Is it cheaper than buying imitation vanilla?  Heck no.  But that ain't real vanilla. 

Real vanilla extract is expensive.  Real vanilla is nothing more than vanilla beans soaked in some sort of alcohol to leach out the flavor.  And making it myself is definitely cheaper than buying real vanilla extract.

It is not, however, something you make with the plan to use it tomorrow.  Or next week.  Or even next month.  I know there are tutorials out there that say shake daily for a few weeks and you're good to go.  Mine sits and steeps a minimum of two months.  And that is just for the first amount I want to use.

I have a stash of old glass extract bottles (saved from when I used to buy it), and unless I'm planning to give one as a gift or something, I just fill one small bottle from my pint sized jar of steeping vanilla beans at a time.  The rest just continues to steep, and age.  And, judging from the date on the jar lid of the last batch I made, a pint of vanilla extract lasts me about a year.

homemade vanilla 

Since I knew I was running low, I went ahead in March and ordered some Madagascar vanilla beans so that I could get a new batch of vanilla going.  Once they arrived, all I did was cut them in half, put them in a clean pint canning jar, and cover them with vodka.  A little less than a pint of vodka actually, as I usually make two batches of vanilla out of a fifth of vodka and this was my second batch from that bottle.

jar on left is remainder of last year's batch;

jar on right is newly filled for this year

after only 5 days steeping

Now it sits, in a cupboard, and on occasion gets shaken. But mostly it sits, for two months, or until my little bottle of vanilla needs a refill.