Homemade Vanilla Extract

Doing all the baking I do Vanilla Extract becomes an essential ingredient.  However, it is a costly one and always on the hunt to find something a bit cheaper I found out you can make your own.  You can scale this down to fit your container or make more.  It is totally scalable and up to you on the strength you prefer.  

NOTE: I've since bottled my own Vanilla extract back in December 2002 and now in October it certainly has steeped a while and flavours the same as my 'other' bottled kind.  I've kept the past bottles and will pour the one I've made into that and then top up the old bottle with more Vodka to again start the process.

Vodka

Vanilla beans

Find a nice bottle you want to use for this recipe.  It will be in there a long time so make sure it's something you're not going to want to use and it also needs to be tightly sealed as well.  

Take your vanilla beans and split them length-wise and scrape out the seeds.  Place the seeds and the split vanilla beans into your desired bottle.  Pour in your Vodka and then seal.  Give it a good shake and then shake it every day there after.  This concoction will need to steep for about 5-6 months depending on how strong you like your extract.  

Now if you want specific amounts say for about 6 ounces of Vodka I'd use 2-3 beans.  For say 23 ounces (about a 70 cl bottle) I'd use 8-10 beans.  

The good news is that when you've used a good portion of the extract you can just top it up with more Vodka and again let it steep.  They will keep on producing extract for quite a while.

I've also read that it is a lot stronger than normal extract so as a consequence you might want to cut down the amount to incorporate into your recipe.  As usual it all depends on your own personal taste.

I found this place which has super cheap vanilla pods by post.  Can highly recommend them as I was very pleased with their product, price and shipping!  What more can I say but GO THERE? =)

Revised: 28 October 2003.