How to Make: Homemade Vanilla Extract
Save all your scraped vanilla pods from making custard etc. they still have loads of flavour to be extracted. If using ONLY scraped pods use 6 pods OR 4 fresh pods as per recipe.
Ingredients
You will need:
- Approx. 4 plump vanilla pods split lengthways *see recipe intro above
- 100 ml vodka or white rum [I used Havana Club white rum left over from our Cuban travels]
- 100 ml glass bottle
- small funnel
Instructions
- Push the split vanilla pods into the bottle, you might need to squish them around a little to get them to fit. Using a small funnel pour in the alcohol to come to the top of the bottle. Secure the lid, give it a little shake and place it on a windowsill out of direct sunlight. Every few days give it a little shake - it helps to have it in your kitchen so you remember.
- Watch over the coming weeks as it darkens in colour. After about 4 weeks it should be good to go, in the middle of winter when it is really cold it might take longer. The best indication of the extract being ready is the colour and smell, it should smell more like vanilla than alcohol. Now it is ready to use in cooking, leave the pods in the bottle to keep adding flavour.
- Once you get to the end of the bottle you can get one more extraction from the vanilla pods, simply repeat as above. Once the pods are spent the second time around I use tweezers to remove them and start again with new plump vanilla pods.