Homemade Vanilla Extract

I think I just got tired of buying tiny bottles of vanilla extract that cost many of my hard earned pennies. Would be cheaper to make it myself? From scratch?

So I set to work.

This is a process I started many months ago. May 2010 in fact. And it’s February 2011 now. Making your own vanilla extract is not a quick fix when you are running low on your supermarket-bought extract. But if you happen to have a large bottle, some cheap vodka and some vanilla pods lying about, what’s stopping you making your own?? Could it actually be *shock* cheaper?? :)

It won’t take long to get your vanilla extract started. It’s the waiting about for it to be done that takes time. Patience, friends.

Right, off we go! What you need:

Vodka, a large bottle, and some vanilla pods. The vodka can be cheap, don’t use a lovely expensive bottle. I’m a gin drinker so this bottle of vodka had been languishing, ignored, for many months. The time had come to put it to good use.

I source my vanilla pods on eBay. I refuse to pay about €4-6 for one or two sad looking pods in the supermarket. Get some on eBay, and keep them airtight and stored in a dark place. No rush to use them then.

Cut the vanilla pods in half:

And then slice the pod lengthways (don’t cut all the way through), to reveal the vanilla pod caviar:

You can leave them like that (no need to scrape out the vanilla seeds) and pop them into your bottle of choice. I used a 1 Litre Slom bottle from IKEA.  It has a proper seal on top so I feel safe when I shake the bottle.

Next, add the vodka. I used about 8 vanilla pods for 500ml of vodka. Looking back I should have used more of both, but I didn’t want a bottle of failure and no vodka or vanilla pods left if everything went wrong.

Next step: Shake it! Give the bottle (sealed!) a good ‘ol shake. And then forget about it, for a few days. Leave it somewhere out of direct sunlight (in a cupboard is great) but not somewhere so obscure that you will forget about it (like in the wardrobe of the spare bedroom, if you have one).. You need to give it a shake every few days.

I used some after about 3-4 months and it was good. Comparing the colour to some Nielsen-Massey extract that I had, they were pretty similar. After 5-6 months, the colour of the extract had darkened a little more. Here’s what it looks like:

Decant into smaller, more manageable bottles. I filled an old, empty extract bottle. If you like your extract without the seeds, you can filter it into the bottle. I decanted about 100ml, and topped up the original bottle with the same amount of plain ‘ol vodka.  Next time I remove some to use, I’ll add another pod or two, keep the whole thing going.

Price Check: Is this madness worth it?

I bought a 1 litre bottle of vodka for about £15 (or €18 approx). Vanilla pods get cheaper per piece the more you buy. You should be able to pick up about 20 pods for about €10 on eBay. Don’t buy the cheapest of the cheap (they might be lower quality so not as luscious and moist) and check the seller feedback to see what buyers thought of the product.  Assuming you get 8 nice pods for about €10 (you will probably get better value than this), and use half the bottle of vodka (€9) , you get 500ml of extract for €19. Currently (checking the website), Tesco are selling 118ml bottles of Nielsen-Massey extract for €6.70. You don’t need to go out and buy a bottle to mature the extract: a clean grolsch bottle would do the trick, or even an old jar (cleaned well, with a secure metal lid).

Nielsen-Massy at Tesco : €5.68 per 100ml

Your own extract: €3.80 per 100ml.

You could reduce the price of the homemade extract by getting better value on the vodka and pods. And as you use the extract (and top it up), the cost goes down.

Homemade extract = Winner!

Enjoy!