30 Days of Pinterest: Day 23

As some of you may know, I love baking. Which often leads to running out of ingredients. And top of that list is often vanilla extract. I’d pinned a ‘How to Make Your Own Vanilla Extract’ by Bethany Actually around Christmas time but had forgotten about it until I ran out of extract at the weekend. While shopping today, I decided instead of buying more I’d just make my own.

Here’s what you need:

-A glass bottle (try not to have it too large though as you’ll need more vanilla beans. The above bottle is 200ml which is perfect. If you don’t have a bottle, a glass jar would be handy)

-Vanilla pods (2-3 is about right for 200ml. If you plan on making loads of these or use a lot of vanilla pods, it is much much cheaper to order them online. I have no idea where but I just know this as a fact!)

-Vodka (And for anyone curious, I won that massive bottle above!)

-Knife or scissors to cut vanilla pods

-Funnel (it makes things easier)

1. Make sure you bottle or jar is properly clean before using!

2. Cut the vanilla pods in half. Then slice the halves down the middle to open them up, just stopping short at the end so they are still connected.

3. Put the pods in the bottle. Using the funnel, pour vodka into bottle or jar, making sure the pods are covered.

And absolutely amazing after shot (not!).

4. And then the Waiting Game. Bethany Actually suggests you leave it a month to steep until it turns a dark brown colour. I suggest giving it a shake every few days. From what I can see already, there’s tiny bits and pieces of the pods floating in the vodka. Presuming it’s still there after 30 days, you could probably filter these bits out (using a funnel and kitchen paper).

Also I read somewhere else that you can just top up with vodka so you don’t need to keep remaking it from scratch (can’t remember where I read that,will update if I do find out!). I plan on decanting into an empty vanilla essence bottle I have for easy of use and topping up by that much after.

I’ll take pictures of updates along the way too and a review once it’s finished. Very excited about this, hoping to do lots more infused alcohols this summer!