Vanilla extract is as easy to make as dropping a few vanilla beans into a bottle of vodka. I like using single serving minibar bottles of various types of alcohol so you have different flavors of vanilla that don’t take a lot of space.
On my trip to Bali late last year, I picked up a bundle of a few dozen vanilla beans for about $5 USD. If you’ve ever dropped a Hamilton on a jar holding a lonesome vanilla bean, you can probably imagine how excited I was about my find. Delighted with the luxury of being able to use an entire bean without thinking about cost, I’ve been scrapping the seeds into everything from breads to soups to jam. It wasn’t until I went to bake a cake when I realized that the sticky seeds don’t want to disperse evenly unless you really give them a good whisk; and we all know what happens when you overmix cake batter!
That’s when it occurred to me that this was probably the reason vanilla extract was invented. Palm firmly planted on forehead, I headed straight to the closest liquor shop to pick up some hooch to extract the essence from the shiny black beans. Standing, among rows upon rows of bottles, I couldn’t decide what liquor I wanted to entrust my treasured vanilla to.
Before I knew it, I’d loaded my basket with over $70 worth of premium booze, resolving to test which one produced the best vanilla extract. As I headed to the cashier, I noticed a rack of mini bottles of liquor (you know, the kind they serve on airplanes, and that they overcharge you for in the minibar of a hotel). Given how little I bake, nearly 2 liters of vanilla extract seemed like an awful lot to make, especially given that I’d never done this before.
Back went the full-sized bottles and in went mini bottles of bourbon, and vodka. Back at home, I took a swig out of each bottle (just to make sure they were still okay), and split two vanilla beans, putting a whole bean in each bottle. Every day, the color of the liquor got darker, and every day I cracked open the lid to take a sniff. At first, the sharp tang of high-proof alcohol and potent vanilla bean was all I could smell, but over the course of a week, the two aromas merged, mellowing each other out and bringing forth a subtle complexity reminiscent of a fine scotch. As with a scotch though the flavor continues to improve over time, and as you can see in this series of photos, the color goes from a light tan to a ruddy brown.
While the vanilla flavor was more pure in the bottle made with vodka, bourbon and vanilla are more than the sum of their parts. The sweet aroma from the bourbon vanilla made me want to dab a little behind my ears and pour the rest of the bottle over a giant ice cube and sip it.
Next time, I may just go and buy a full size bottle of Bulleit and add a handful of beans for drinking, but for cooking, the mini bottles are perfect. Unless you run a bakery, you’ll probably never be using more than a few teaspoons of vanilla extract, and so the mini bottles make it easy to measure out without spilling a precious drop.
By the way, if you’re not going to be in Bali anytime soon, there’s a store on Amazon selling vanilla beans. I’ve never bought from them so I can’t vouch for their quality, but if someone does buy them, please leave a note in the comments here to tell us how they are.
Units
Ingredients
- 1 vanilla bean
- 1 mini bottle liquor (such as bourbon, vodka or rum)
Instructions
- Split the vanilla bean lengthwise. Remove a bit of booze from the bottle, and stuff both halves of the vanilla bean into the bottle. Close the lid and let the vanilla bean steep for at least one week. Like most things, vanilla extract gets better with age, so make a few bottles!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Susan, provided the beans are totally submerged in vodka (or any alcohol 80 proof or above), it’s highly unlikely it would be growing mold. The most likely possibility is that you’re seeing some residue or membranes from your vanilla beans floating to the top. Vanillin, which is the compound that gives vanilla it’s flavor is white in color and may be culprit (see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanillin). That said, as with anything you should use your best judgement. If it smells/tastes off, then you should probably toss it out to be safe.
JennyMay says
Has anyone ever tried making vanilla extract with Van Gouh Double expresso vodka? I have a bunch of mini’s!
LindaG says
Hope this isn’t silly, do you just leave the bean in the alcohol after the thirty days?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Linda, good question! It’s not necessary, but leaveing the bean in won’t hurt and I think the flavor continues to mature past 30 days.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Linda, good question! It’s not necessary, but leaveing the bean in can’t hurt and I think the flavor continues to mature past 30 days.
SueMcK says
Making vanilla extract for the first time & I bought 30 Tahitian Vanilla beans and they sent 10 Bourbon Madagascar beans free. can I mix the two or better not too? I’m using vodka
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Sue, why not make 2 separate batches of vanilla extract and then you can taste the difference and combine the two if you want to mix them?
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Rena says
Chef Marc, I bought 10 beans in Southern India which are said to be oily with a hint of cinnamon among other spices. What kind of alcohol would you recommend – vodka, bourbon or rum? And how many beans/100 ml?
I’ve seen extracts use Madagascar and Tahitian beans but not Indian, so i’m really confused.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Rena, I’ve never used Indian vanilla beans before but They should work just fine for making vanilla extract. As for the alcohol, vodka has the most neutral taste, so if you really want to taste just the vanilla bean then I’d go for that. Then if you feel like experimenting with other flavor combinations then you can try out different liquors.
TexasYellowDog says
Everybody knows vanilla is made with bourbon??????
No, and it never has been.
Bourbon Vanilla is made from Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla beans. A specific species of vanilla beans.
PGA is the best base with Vodka a close second.
When I read that it made me laugh and remember a friend who thought Beluga Caviar came from Beluga whales.
Sherry says
hi marc i would like to know how long does home made vanilla last on shelf life sherry
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Sherry, as long as the beans are completely submerged vanilla should last indefinitely.
Bunny Lazar says
I just received some bourbon vanilla beans. To make the extract would it be better to use bourbon or vodka?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Bunny, it’s up to you. Vodka will produce a more pure vanilla taste, whereas bourbon will give you an extract that tastes like vanilla and bourbon.
virginia says
can i make vanilla extract without splitting the soft vanilla bean