Description
After getting a very poor bottle of vanilla extract from the "fine goods" grocery store a couple years ago i researched how to make my own vanilla from scratch. You may use several different kinds of alochol but i much prefer the heavier sweeter brandy to the more commonly used rum or vodka. I specifically use the korbel xs because in the distilling process they use extra vanilla and spices in their recipe.
Ingredients
- Brandy
- Vanilla Beans
Instructions
- Carefully open the bottle of brandy
- Pour off approximately one shot of liquid
- On a small cutting board slice vanilla beans in half, then again length wise
- This will produce 4 strips of vanilla bean husk per each original bean
- With a sharp fine
- Put all gathered vanilla pulp straight into bottle of brandy, and then place the husk inside the bottle as well
- Repeat until all slices of bean husk have been stripped and dropped into the bottle
- Re-cork / close bottle and gently shake to disburse the vanilla husks and pulp in the liquid
- This is a very slow steeping process so do not rush the immersion
- Store bottle on in a space where you will remember to stir / swirl the bottle aprox once a week for at least 2 to 3 months
- When you pour off some of your homemade vanilla into a smaller bottle for easier usage, remember to refill the original bottle back up with fresh alcohol, and begin the immersion process again
- The original beans will last at several steeps, in fact my original vanilla has been used for 4 batches now