Homemade Vanilla Extract

"I stumbled upon a Vanilla Extract recipe years ago and have always wanted to try it; most recipes seem very similar to one another. I used a 1.75 liter bottle of Svedka and 25 Madagascar Vanilla Beans..." See more that I purchased from Beanilla along with some small bottles to bottle my extract for gift giving. The beans were very plump and seemed to be very nice quality. I split them and scraped out the seeds and placed seeds and beans into the 1.75 liter bottle of Vodka to age for 3 months, stored it in a dark area and gave it a little shake about once a week. After it aged for 3 months, I filtered it through a gold coffee filter to separate the seeds and bean fibers from the liquid, Don’t discard the beans, save them to place into the individual bottles. Gold coffee filters can be found at Walmart for about $5, they are very fine and make an excellent filter and they don’t absorb the extract. I placed one vanilla bean into each bottle so that it will continue to strengthen in the months to come. Used a small funnel to fill each individual bottle, added my custom labels, a gift tag and bow and I have a wonderful little gift to give to family and friends. I filled 10, 4 oz bottles and 1, 8 oz bottle and had about a cup of extract left over that I saved for myself. I would recommend using a 4 oz bottle; it seemed the perfect size for gift giving."

"I started making my own pure vanilla using this method. It's wonderful! I use only vodka (tried rum once, didn't care for the result). You can just cut the vanilla beans into thirds and slip them into..." See more the vodka; shake several times weekly and notice the color changing. As stated, the minimum time is weeks, but leave it as long as you can... months would be preferable. My guideline is once I can't smell the alcohol, it's pretty much ready. Homemade vanilla can take on a bit of a cloudy appearance, so don't be alarmed. You can strain a little of it at a time into a smaller bottle using a coffee filter, and let the rest hang out and get even stronger and better."

"I use Martha Stewarts recipe which calls for 1 cup at a time. Her recipe is 1 c. good vodka to 2 split vanilla beans and let it set for 3 months. I have 4 c. of it made now for Christmas gifts...." See more"