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Homemade Vanilla Extract

How to make vanilla extract at home. This homemade vanilla recipe is great not only for cooking with but also a great gift idea!

Yield: 8 oz bottle
Prep: 6 weeksCook: 0 minutesTotal: 6 weeks

Ingredients

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Instructions

  1. Prepare your vanilla beans (for every 8 ounces of vanilla you want to make, you will need 4-5 vanilla beans).
  2. Slice one side of each bean open to expose the inside.
  3. Submerge beans in alcohol (place your sliced beans into a glass storage jar of some type. Keep in mind that you want to keep the 8oz-to-5 bean ratio in your container).
  4. Now, fill your jars with alcohol. My booze of choice was a cheap, unflavored vodka. You don’t need expensive vodka to make this work. Just as long as it’s 35% alcohol.
  5. Wait. Every week or so, give the jars a good shake. Some say wait about 6 weeks. Some say 6 months. The longer the vanilla sits, the more complex the flavor will be so I gave mine a good 5-6 months.
  6. Store your vanilla extract for long-term use.
© Author: Polly Conner
Cuisine: American Method: DIY