How to Make Vanilla Extract
Bust out the booze friends! I’ve got a weekend project for you!
We’re making our very own vanilla extract! Why? Why make your own vanilla extract when you can just buy the stuff in a teeeeeeny tiny bottle at the grocery store for close to ten whopping dollars? Hm… see what I did there? I seem to have answered my own question.
Homemade vanilla extract only requires a handful of things. Come on… we can totally rock this.
First let’s talk vanilla beans. Yea… they’re a tad bit expensive, but totally worth their weight in… vanilla.
There are a lots different varieties of vanilla beans. So many varieties all with their own subtle nuances… it can be a bit overwhelming. There are beans from Madagascar, Mexico, Tahiti, Tonga… just throw a dart at the map and they just might produce vanilla beans there. Ok. I’m exaggerating. Different beans from all over the globe have different characteristics. We could talk about this for days… seriously. Here’s a brief brief brief run down of my favorites.
Madagascar beans are powerful, dark, full vanilla flavor beans. Tahitian beans remind me of vanilla figs- fruity and floral. The Mexican variety has just a hint of sweet creaminess. How’s that for brief?
What beans are you going to choose for your vanilla extract? Where are you going to get them? Use exactly any bean you want! Maybe you’ll buy them online here. Use exactly whatever you can get your hands on. Mix and match! It’s your world. It’s your extract.
This is going to be so easy! Let’s get started!
I started two types of vanilla extract. One jar is filled with vodka and Mexican vanilla beans (on the left above) while the other jar has bourbon and Tahitian vanilla beans (on the right, silly). I’m beyond excited! I’m ready to bathe in this stuff.
Here’s what you’ll need to make your own vanilla extract:
- A mason jar, or some other clean, super sealing container.
- A high-proof alcohol like vodka, bourbon or rum. We’re talking 80 proof.
- Three vanilla beans per cup of alcohol
- A dark spot to store the jars.
- Two months. That’s how long it takes to create vanilla extract!
Here’s how:
Use a sharp paring knife to cut lengthwise down the center of the vanilla beans, leaving about an inch at the top of the vanilla bean uncut.
Put the vanilla beans in a glass jar with a tight fitting lid. I used mason jars.
Cover the beans completely with alcohol. It’s three vanilla beans per cup of alcohol, so if you use 2 cups of vodka split open six vanilla beans and throw them in the jar.
Tightly cover the jar and give it a good shake. Store in a cool dry place for two months. Give the bottle a good shake every week or so, just so you don’t forget all about it.
After two months have passed, your vanilla extract should be ready for your favorite chocolate chip cookie or pound cake recipe. You might also want to put the extract in cute, tiny bottles and give them to your favorite baker friends.
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Thanks for this recipe…I love homemade things like this. Question: do you know how long the vanilla extract can be stored? Does it have a long shelf life like store-bought extracts?
Awesome post! Thank you! I am still absolutely in love with the Mexican vanilla my aunt and uncle bring back for me every year…but what a great gift idea!!
This is one of those projects that is on my very lenghty list of Things I Want To Make. Have you made any other extracts?
I make my vanilla in a vodka bottle. I think I used far more beans, though. I just kept chucking beans in there whenever I had an extra. I know you can use it after 2 months, but I found the flavor didn’t really fully ripen/develop in mine for 4-6 months. (It became so much more mellow.)
Just a question — I would have thought that the strong taste of bourbon would overpower the delicate flavor of a tahitian bean. Is this not true? (How fun, playing with flavor combinations this way!)
This is SO very cool. I can’t wait to try it. I would really like to hear your answer to Larissa’s question (how long is the shelf life of this vanilla).
I make my own Vanilla Extract – it’s all sorts of awesome.
Like Maria I just make it straight in the Vodka bottle – It always makes me giggle when I take my Ingredients photo for a blog entry and there’s a cheap 70cl bottle of vodka next to the flour ;)
I made mine around 3 years ago now and will probably need to make some more before Christmas – I never dreamed that I’d use it up that fast but it’s so great I also use some of it to soak the fruit for my Christmas cakes too.
Thinking back I think I used 4-5 pods and left for at least 3+ months – I didn’t really time it, I just waited till it turned that delicious caramel brown colour. I also added a teaspoon or 2 of sugar just to help bring out the flavour.
Warning: you will become hopelessly addicted to unscrewing the cap and sniffing!
I’ve been wanting to try this, thanks for the how to instructions, I will def. put this project on my summer to do list! Thanks for the great easy info!
http://www.katiskupcakes.com
Oh, and by the way – I didn’t split my beans, just popped them in to soak whole.
Once I was done I just dried them out and used for other things.
I’ve got some in my cupboard that I started about 6 weeks ago – it still smells like vodka but mostly of vanilla, now. I can’t wait to use it!
So….I have something to confess…..I think I just fell in love with you a little more, my dear :)
One of my favorite things in this world is vanilla!
I’m a sucker for those tiny bottles of vanilla that cost OVER $10! Recently, I’ve bought the Tahitian and Mexican vanilla’s from the Nielsen-Massey Vanillas company…and it’s kinda fun to smell them one after the other – such different smells!! I love your brief description of the different types :)
I actually read this book not too long ago by Patricia Rain, Vanilla: The Cultural History of the World’s Favorite Flavor and Fragrance. I thought it was a quite interesting look at vanilla’s history and how it became such a phenom.
I’m so excited to try this!
Great recipe! I can’t wait to try this. It makes such a difference when all of your ingredients, even the basics, are from scratch.
A.W.E.S.O.M.E.
This looks so great.I really want to make some for Christmas presents! Thanks so much!
I buy my vanilla beans from this ebay seller:
http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Vanilla-Products-USA
They are inexpensive, but really good vanilla beans! i use them to make vanilla sugar, vanilla extract and I substitute the seeds for extract in most of my baking!
I just started a new back of extract about 3 weeks ago. :)
I would have never thought to make my own extract… I have thought about doing vanilla sugar, after watching Inta Gartner scold me for not making my own… but never thought about the extract side of things… and what a great idea for gifts! I love it!!
Thanks Joy!
This would be a seriously good idea to get moving on for Christmas gifts! Thanks for the great tips!
So cool!! When we went to Tahiti I was so excited to buy some vanilla beans on the cheap, but low and behold they were more expensive there than they are here! I’m so excited about making this, I don’t know how I’ll wait 2 months!
What a great tip! I can’t wait to try this!
I had no idea it was that simple to make vanilla extract. I could share with my friend! Thank-you Joy!
ooh, I’m going to try that today! I have rum and tahiti vanilla beans on hand.
Love it! It makes so much sense to make your own with the cost of it at the stores…thanks for the inspiration!
Nice! This is the type of project I plan to do but never get around to. Although I do like the sound of the Mexican vanilla bean. We’ll see. Great info Joy!
You’re my hero, Joy! Thank you so much for this.
I get a 32oz bottle at the Chef’s catalog store here in Colorado Springs for 35 bucks…lasts me a couple of years
I just love making my vanilla extract and have been doing so for years. My preference is using brandy which adds to the coloring of the vanilla extract.
Seems at least once a year I have a bottle brewing, just never know when I’ll be running out. I just let it sit in a dark area, mix it up now & then. There have been times that it sat for many months and it improves w/age…. just love it.
ahhh,, a person after my own heart. I make vanilla extract too after reading that awesome thread on egullet. I buy a 750ml bottle of vodka, chop and scrape up 12 tahitian vanilla beans (it’s the closest flavor to dominican vanilla that I grew up with) and let it sit for minimum 6 months but it’s best after a year.
It’s amazing and I have my parents hooked on it. I had to send my mom with a small supply because my dad says that my poundcake recipe is not the same without it. I think I bought about 50 super oily and plump vanilla beans from vanillabeansusa on ebay. Super reasonable and they came vacuum packed.
Neat!
i make my own extract, too. i have a nice one going right now with golden rum as the base. when i have a been where i’ve scraped the seeds out for something else, i pop the pod in my jar and top it up with more rum. smells so good, and the jar looks so cute on the counter!
What a great idea! I actually have an over abundance of vanilla beans from a spice buying binge in Indonesia. This would be the perfect way to use some of them. Do you think that once the extract is finished, I could still use the beans to make vanilla sugar?
I made these as Christmas gifts this year. The longer they sit, the better they get! I bought the vanilla beans in bulk online, but they weren’t the fat, pretty beans that I love- though they got the job done!
I just started making my own vanilla extract this year. I’ve got a 750 ml bottle of vanilla extract that I started with 10 Tahitian vanilla beans and a cheap vodka (you can go with other alcohols and no need to go expensive on the booze) back in February of this year. It started out smelling like plain vodka, but now it smells like the richest vanilla, even without opening the bottle! If I had known it was this easy (set it and forget it), I would’ve done this years ago.
From what I can tell, this extract lasts forever as long as you keep adding more alcohol and beans (yes, even used — just rinse them thoroughly if they’ve been steeped in milk), and it gets even better and more syrupy as it ages. Someone said they’ve had one bottle going for decades now.
My uncle used to make vanilla extract for me every holiday season. It was like gold! I would use it year-round in all of my baking, and would finish it up right around Thanksgiving– just in time for another batch. Thanks for the recipe.
What an excellent idea. My friends are getting homemade vanilla for the holidays. I need to find some cute 1 cup jars. That way I can just make the individual gifts, leaving the beans inside.
I’ve been buying my vanilla at Trader Joe’s it is very reasonable and the flavor is good.
So, hold up… I’ve been spending way too much on grocery store vanilla extract when making my own is *this* easy?!? Hot damn!
Great idea! I can’t wait to give this a shot. Just curious, does all vanilla extract use booze?
This is so very, very cool! Thank you.
Thank you! I’ve been wanting to make my own, and we’re almost out…this was just the incentive I needed to try to for myself!
Thank you for this! I can’t tell you how frustrating it is that no supermarket seems to sell vanilla extract in glass jars anymore, let alone *real* vanilla extract–not that imitation stuff. But the 2 month waiting period is a little sad! Oh well, I’m definitely doing this anyway! Thanks again!!
Bah! I’ve been meaning to do this for at least 2 months now…coulda already had me some finished extract! I gotta make a stop to buy some vodka. Will do this weekend fo sho.
You are my hero.
So… got a recipe for almond extract, as well? :)
This is great!! Thanks so much :)
Im excited to try this. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
thanks for this. I can’t wait to try it.
Agh. I have a request, Can you please stop posting such beautiful and darned tempting photos on your blog! OK, well, don’t stop, but my god! You make me want to eat everything, bake everything, taste everything! Which would be ood if I also didn’t have a somewhat lazy personality. I may have to resort to *shudder* self improvement!
In a very similar vein, I have a bottle of homemade vanilla vodka — open a bottle of moderately good vodka, toss in one vanilla bean, allow to brew. Delicious. (I just leave the bean in it as we consume, so the vanilla flavor gets gradually stronger over time)
That sounds so easy and fantastic! I can’t wait to try it
omg! i did NOT know that you use booze when creating vanilla extract! thanks for the fact! i totally agree with lauren your pictures are sooo good, and tempting! can’t wait to hear how the extract turns out!
<3′s and best dishes! =]
Oh, glad to know this for use at a later date. As I wipe baby spot up from my shoulder and the test of the chicken with preserved lemon dish from my skirt, I just do not have it in me… “Hello? Pea Pod?…”
I’ve just been storing my spent vanilla pods (after scraping the seeds for other uses, and sometimes after using the pods themselves for infusion and then cleaning them very well) in a big jar of vodka. You don’t waste the seeds that way and it’s like vanilla sugar (which I already have multiple jars of) – you just add more of one or the other as you go. It’s not quite ready yet but I have used it in ice creams.
So funny — I went to the store tonight to buy ingredients for the root beer float cake (!!) I’m going to make tomorrow for my birthday dinner party on Saturday. (What do I want for my birthday? To cook for friends.) I needed some vanilla extract, and as I stood looking at the options I thought, “I wonder how you make vanilla extract.” I logged on when I got home to write down the root beer cake recipe, and look what I found! I love it when that happens!