DIY Vanilla Extract

A few years ago, I posted about making my own extracts - it was my first time doing so, and true to form, I went a little overboard and made five different types of extracts - lavender, rose, and hibiscus in addition to the more traditional cinnamon and vanilla. I got fantastic flavors from all the herbs and spices, but I never really managed to incorporate most of the extracts into my cooking or baking. I once added the lavender extract to a lemon-lavender icebox pie, and the cinnamon gets tossed into various experimental batches of cookies, but it's only the vanilla I use with any true regularity. As a result, my original bottle was getting dangerously low - so I decided to rectify the situation and whip up a new batch of homemade vanilla extract.

It's crazy easy to make your own extract, and is ultimately a whole lot cheaper than buying the pre-made. You'll need a bottle (preferably glass), 1-2 vanilla beans, and enough vodka to fill the bottle. It's perfectly fine to use cheap vodka for this project, so save yourself some cash and pick up some Fleishman's or Smirnoff (or whatever is comparable in your area). I found my vanilla beans at a nearby spice shop, but if you can't find them locally I'm pretty sure that many major grocery stores do keep them in stock.

I tend to stick to a 10:1 ratio - for every one vanilla bean, I need about 10 oz. of vodka. This isn't an exact science, but more beans with less liquid will result in a stronger and more flavorful extract (the bottle I used is 17 oz., so I used two whole beans)

Using a sharp nice, cut a long lengthwise slit down the center of each vanilla bean. Be careful not to split the bean into two separate pieces - you just need a deep enough cut to let the tiny seeds infiltrate the vodka.

Place the beans into the bottle, fill up the bottle with vodka, cap tightly, and store in your pantry/spice rack/wherever you keep things of this nature for at least three weeks and up to two years. You can use the extract as soon as the liquid in the bottle turns to an amber/golden color, but I like to wait a little longer to start using my vanilla - the flavor intensifies and becomes much more robust over time, and there's nothing quite like an apple or cherry pie made with real vanilla extract that's been aged for nearly a year.

DIY - Extracts!

While traveling through Denver last month, I was able to make a stop at the fantastic Savory Spice Shop, a little store with a huge selection of delicious and hard-to-find herbs, spices and seasonings.

Savory Spice Shop - Denver, CO

The store sells in bulk, which means that things come cheap. For example, I bought 3 whole Madagascan Vanilla Beans for $5. Whole Foods sells one bean for over $10. My entire purchase (3 different herbs, 2 spices, the 3 vanilla beans and 5 cinnamon sticks) rang in at just over $20.

One of the many knowledgeable staff members 

One of my big plans for everything I bought was to make my own extracts. Waaayyy cheaper than buying pre-made pure extracts and really easy to do, making your own extracts is a fun project for any chef or baker, and they make a great gift - a soon-to-be-married friend invited me over for tea this past weekend, and I gave her and her foodie fiance a set of the extracts as a house-warming/sorry-I-missed-your-bridal-shower-present.

Ingredients 
Dried herbs - I used lavender, rose petals, and hibiscus flowers
Cinnamon sticks
Whole vanilla beans
Glass jars (with lids)
Vodka - bottom shelf vodka is fine. Buy a handle of Fleischmann's, give a toast to your college years, and call it a day.
**There is no set measurements for the above ingredients - it depends on how big your jars are. A good rule of thumb is to use a 3:1 ratio - about 3 parts vodka for every one part of the herb you're extracting.

These used to be hotel-room service condiment jars

How to
For the vanilla extract:

Using a sharp knife, cut a slit down the center of the bean. Leave the ends in tact (kind of like you would pierce a hot dog before putting it in the microwave).

Leave all the other ingredients in tact. Depending on the size of your jar, you might have to bend the vanilla bean or snap the cinnamon stick in half, but keep the herbs as whole as you can.

Fill the bottoms of the each jar with one ingredient each (although if you get creative, feel free to experiment with your own blends and mixes. I didn't combine any of my herbs, but maybe that'll be my next extract project!).

Pour vodka into the jars, filling them to the top. Cap tightly, shake for good measure, and store in a cool, dark place. Shake the ingredients around every few days, but you can pretty much leave them alone. It takes about seven weeks for the vodka to turn into usable extract, so you'll have to wait a little while before you can incorporate this into your cooking. But think of all the recipes you can find and plan out while you wait!


I made a set for myself using the smaller condiment jars, but I found spice jars at Ikea that fit beautifully into one of their small metal baskets (or maybe the good folks at Ikea intended for that to happen. I can never figure that place out). They were the perfect present size, so I added a hand-written label and a little bow, and delivered it with a smile.