Make Your Own Homemade Vanilla Extract With Only 2 Ingredients (No Additives) Cooking Tips Spices Desserts

Commercial vanilla extract may contain glycerin, propylene glycol, sugar, invert sugar, dextrose or corn syrup. If it concerns you that unnecessary and potentially harmful additives are in your food supply, let me show you how to make your own homemade vanilla extract containing only two ingredients. Cooking outside the box is my preach and my passion!

If replicating a typical bottle of store-bought vanilla extract, you need about 16 ounces of alcohol and four vanilla beans. If you’re not making anything with vanilla bean paste anytime soon, go ahead and submerge the beans whole. When you run out of extract, or when the extract is ready, you can pull out a vanilla bean and use the paste within any recipe you’d like. It's wonderful in desserts of all kinds. 

Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 5 minutes, plus 2 to 6 months
Cook Time: 0 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes, plus 2 to 6 months

Ingredients

• 1 16-ounce bottle good-quality vodka, rum, bourbon or brandy
• 4 - 6 whole, good-quality fresh vanilla beans

Here’s how to make it:

1. Combine the alcohol and whole vanilla beans in a 16-ounce clear, clean wide-mouth jar that will seal airtight, and seal.
2. Place the jar in a cool, dark place for two to six months – the longer the better. Occasionally shake the jar.
3. When the extract is done, you can leave the beans in or remove them for additional use.

Need help converting cooking and baking measurements? Here are some handy kitchen conversion charts.

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