Homemade Vanilla

Who loves vanilla?  I so do!  I use it like crazy, and when I found out how simple it was to make, I was all over it!  Are you ready?  First, gather all the ingredients...

1. Vodka

2. Vanilla beans.

Now, this is a little harder than it seems in my tiny little East Texas town.  The grocery store asked $9.99 per bean.  $9.99!!!  Since it takes approximately one bean per ounce, that seemed just a teensy bit crazy to me, so I almost ditched the project.  I know there are great websites that offer inexpensive vanilla beans, but I am an instant gratification kind of girl, plus I needed them in exactly a month, and it takes 6-8 weeks to cure (see, I was already 2-4 weeks behind schedule)...  So, I racked my brain trying to figure out where to get them and I lucked out at the local health food store.  They only wanted $1.50 a piece for them so I bought them out.  Which was 12 beans, exactly enough to make my pint jar and 5 tiny vodka bottles worth!

The vanilla pictured was taken about a week after I put tha vanilla beans in the vodka.  By the time it has cured, it will be the deep rich color of vanilla you get at the store, only much tastier!! 

I needed the beans in such a hurry, because my friends and I were having a "Christmas Favorite Things" party, and I needed 5 small gifts to hand out.  Which, tied in cute little zebra pouches was a hit!  The vanilla hadn't finished curing yet, but I wrote the date it was made, and approx. how many weeks were left until completion, and what it should look like!

If I were smart, I would have taken a pic of the wrapped gifts, but I didnt...

The vanilla should cure in a dark place, and be shaken a few times a week, and you can replinish the vanilla with vodka as you use it to keep a continuous supply of vanilla, but the beans need to be pulled out and replaced every 6-8 months.  I read that you can dry them out once you've used them to make the vanilla, and put them in sugar to scent and flavor the sugar for coffee and baked goods.  I will try that and let you know how it works when I need to replace the beans!