Wednesday 18 March 2009

home-made vanilla extract


what to do, when you live in a country, where the only vanilla extract you can buy in the supermarket is red and smells like banana? (really it does!) well, you go to Google, do a bit of research and find out how to make your own...and the best part? it's easy-peasy!
recipe

take one small glass bottle with a cork. wash thoroughly. leave to dry.
take 3 vanilla pods and cut lengthways leaving a little bit still intact at the bottom.
take one cup of any alcohol you like...vodka, rum, grappa, or in my case the local brew, arak and pour into little glass bottle.
stuff in the 3 vanilla pods.
cork.
store in a cool, dark place for 2 months to allow flavour to infuse.
use generously in baking...when levels deplete, top up and re-store.

could anything be simpler? who needs rocket science after all!

10 comments:

Finla said...

I made them too and i was actually surprised how easy it was to make.

Unknown said...

interesting recipe, Sinead! Thanks for posting this.

Faery said...

Hello Sinead :) . well in my country the bad "copies" smell like coconut and taste like burnt coffee-old coconut :p . Thanks for sharing

The Caked Crusader said...

This is something I keep meaning to try but never seem to get round to it. I bet it's lovely!

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

I've always wanted to do this! I've even seen kits to do this at the store. It's a glass bottle with vanilla beans inside and the instructions are on the bottle!

Anonymous said...

Nice idea - I've love to taste the difference.

Kelsie said...

That's so cool! I've never even thought about making homemade extracts before...

Carly said...

I have always wanted to make homemade vanilla. Can't wait to hear how it turns out!

Ain said...

Cool...recipe! Now I noe what to do with my whole bunch of vanilla pods :D

Anonymous said...

Wow, that looks so easy. Must try now. :) And what beautiful photography with this post!