Pages

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Homemade vanilla extract

Homemade vanilla extract


Before Colin came to visit me during CNY, he asked me to suggest a gift that he could bring for me, so I quickly suggested good vanilla beans from US as I have been thinking to make my own vanilla extract.


















When I first see Ju ~The Little Teochew~ making her own vanilla extract, I immediate bookmarked. I followed exactly to her recipe and steps. Thanks so much to Ju !


First get a good vanilla beans, Thanks Colin!

vanilla pods


Before I getting a bottle of vodka (we don't drink this at home), I throw the beans into a caster sugar jar to make Vanilla sugar for future baking purposes.


vanilla sugar


Once I got a bottle of vodka (with higher alcohol content of 35% which could produce strongest extract). Since i need only 1 bean for making Vanilla chiffon cake (will share recipe later) , I use a small clean glass bottle which could store 50ml vodka. First I split one vanilla bean lengthwise and scraped the seeds for making chiffon, and put the empty bean into a small glass bottle. Store in a cool, dark place and give it a little shake every few days.


Homemade vanilla extract


This sunset effect happened just about an hour later, this is beautiful right?

Homemade vanilla extract



I'm so happy now, because I will have never-ending supply of homemade vanilla extract !! Happy Baking !!

33 comments:

  1. great idea! And I bet the fragrance is much better :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sonia, you really make full use of the vanilla bean ^_^

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have my own jar of homemade vanilla extract and it's super nice smelling! glad you have started your own too :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wah, so nice, Sonia! You can have your own vanilla extract, will be very fragrant I think :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. It's always good to have homemade vanilla. Ever since i started making my own, there was no looking bk. But you know, even my several trips back to California, I never buy the vanilla pods from Nielsen-Massey, I find it too expensive, heehee! I would invest more in a better alcohol. Btw, try using rum next time Sonia, it is way way better then vodka, trust me. Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  6. so great!!homemade wan...do you sell it or not? ha

    ReplyDelete
  7. my friends in malaysia told me that vanilla beans are so much cheaper than here in the US, like 4 beans for RM10.00

    ReplyDelete
  8. I am so into home-made vanilla extract that I have one full vodka bottle of it with 20 beans. Crazy, isn't it? Next I'm going to use rum!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sonia, you know what? I've got my vodka and vanilla beans before Ju's posting. And then, they are still sitting comfortably on my table top, untouched!

    I put the whole bean into my sugar jar to make vanilla sugar but I find it such a waste as the beans are still intact, not fully utilised.

    You've just given me a push to work faster on this.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I made my own vanilla extract too and used organic beans and was lucky to find some organic vodka. I gave it as Christmas gifts. You have to plan ahead for it. I think next time I'll try using rum. Now I just add vanilla beans and vodka to a bottle that I have for my use, so I don't have to wait like last time.

    So funny I just notice busygran's comment!

    ReplyDelete
  11. thanks for sharing this, this comes in very appropriate as i have a few vanilla beans at home now,novodka but since honey bee sweets can be soaked in rum, maybe i'll try rum.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks for this tip, Sonia. Very useful!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Nice! I am going to make my own vanilla extract once I receive my vanilla beans from my blogger friend. Can't wait!
    Kristy

    ReplyDelete
  14. Nice!!! This is probably a better way of using extract that the fake store bought ones!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow..home made vanilla extract! Bet it is good...

    ReplyDelete
  16. i soaked the vanilla beans in rum.. very nice smell too..

    ReplyDelete
  17. I am yet to make my own! It does sound easy.

    ReplyDelete
  18. whoah..wish i can make that too! it's more natural than ready made ones..
    I saw the same vanilla beans with the same package here in singapore..
    but it's really expensive!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Sonia,
    Next time, if I ever buy in bulk from the net, I ask u as well ok.
    Last time, Swee San, PeiLin and I shared 250gm of beans. It's a lot leh!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Very happy to see that you are doing this. My vanilla extract is now really dark & syrupy. I should do an update!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I too made my own vanilla. I normally make a big bottle of it so I can stuff a lot of beans into the bottle. It gives a stronger flavor.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I made some vanilla extract with vodka last month, but not quite satisfied with the result. And I used 6 vanilla beans....maybe I should try with rum next time.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Looks like I'll have to jump into the bandwagon too. Think, I'll go for rum. Thanks so much for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Great idea, I will definitely give this a try

    ReplyDelete
  25. I really should try making some myself!

    ReplyDelete
  26. I made vanilla extract with vodka like last year. I get mine from iheartvanilla.com, cheap but excellent quality.

    ReplyDelete
  27. This is intersting but what is asubstitute for alcohol if you are ateetotaller???
    Colour of vanilla nad vodka fusion looks amazing one beautiful click.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Didn't know you can use vanilla bean this way, glad that you can put it into good use!

    ReplyDelete
  29. thanks for sharing this! but where can I find vanilla pods in Malaysia!? actually I am student here and don't know about cooking and baking suppliers in Malaysia. I hope you can help me :)

    ReplyDelete
  30. hi amantino, try www.greenvanillastore.com for vanilla beans...bought some plump gourmet vanilla beans last month there and I think they were better than the store-bought ones

    ReplyDelete

I may not be able to respond to all of your comment individually due to time constraint, but I do appreciate for every comment left by all of you. Thanks for visiting!
Please identify yourself if you are under Anonymous so I know how to address you.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.