DIY-Homemade Vanilla

Homemade Vanilla....oh I was so excited when I read the first post I found on making your own homemade vanilla. You see when I was a senior in high school we lived 10 miles from the border of Mexico....and when friends and family would come and visit we would go shop across the border. One of the most asked for gifts from Mexico was their Pure Vanilla! And it was super cheap!!! Less than $5 for a liter!!! That's a lot of vanilla! Now 13 years down the road...my Momma, grandmothers and I have all run through our stockpile of vanilla! I do a lot of baking and can sure tell the difference....I miss that glorious rich vanilla!

About 6 months ago Momma and I ran across a post on how to make your own vanilla. We were amazed at how simple the ingredients and instructions were, and we decided then and there to make some for ourselves. However our road block came with the expensive of the vanilla beans themselves....it didn't occur to us to get less beans and use less vodka!!! Silly us! However this week I finally got all the ingredients together and put together my first batch of homemade vanilla....which should be ready about August! If it turns out like I am hoping it will ...I will have enough to share with my good friends....maybe even sell some...who knows!!!

Do It Yourself - Homemade Vanilla

1. Search EBay, Amazon.com, the Internet.....buy a 3/4 to 1 pound of vanilla beans.


My two bottles of cheap vodka and 1 pound of vanilla beans

 I couldn't find anyplace that sold 3/4 pound of vanilla beans and couldn't afford $50 for the Madagascar beans that were recommended. I bought mine on Ebay for $15....I just hope I don't regret it!

2. Buy 2-1.75 liter bottles(1 gallon) of Vodka.....the cheap stuff will do! And don't ask me why I bought two different kinds of Vodka...I don't know...it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time! I don't buy alcohol very often, and when I do I am generally buying for someone else and just get what they want! I just don't drink...so it is not something I am all that knowledgeable about...and when you are faced with a 15 foot isle of Vodka... I get confused and over whelmed....who knew there were that many kinds and varieties!!! 

3. Now you need a clean, glass, gallon sized jar! I found mine in that back of the cabinet....my grandmother kept all kinds of things!!! This appears to be a pickle jar....if you don't have one big jar, several smaller jars would work!

4. Take you kitchen shears and cut each vanilla bean in half ....but leave about 1 inch together so the bean with not fall apart!

Vanilla bean cut in half!!!

Now this step is the only tedious part of the process. But your hands smell really good afterwards because you have the oil from the beans all over you hands!

5. Place all the vanilla beans in you glass jar.

Vanilla Beans in Jar

6. Pour all that cheap vodka over the beans and put the lid on!

Vanilla Beans soaked in Vodka

7. Now leave your jar in a cool, dark, dry place for 6 months! And you should come out with wonderful homemade vanilla extract!!!!

OK...now I am a forgetful person! I get some many things going at one time that I forget what I am doing! And the instructions that I read suggest that you shake your vanilla about once a month....just to mix it up some. I will forget when I made this ....I will only remember that it will be done in August. So to help myself I marked my kitchen calendar every month on the date that I needed to check on my vanilla. I also put these labels on the lid.

Reminder Label on the lid!

That way I have record of the date that I made this vanilla, and can mark off each month that I check/shake my jar.
And just for my own curiosity I am gonna take pictures of it each month so you and I can see it's progress!
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! God Bless, Mama D