I prefer the liquid extract in cakes while the bean paste is reserved for cookies, icing, custard, scones...in essence for anything in which the little black flecks come through.
And these have served me well. But yesterday I bought a 350ml bottle of vodka to which I added 6 vanilla pods picked up in Finland.
The next step was splitting the pods in half (lengthways) at which point I stopped to have a good look.
I found them fascinating close up and had lots of fun poking and prodding the pods - visually and texturally, they're quite interesting. Tastewise, the beans had a hint of vanilla without any sweetness which led to the conclusion that sugar must be added in mass production. I'd like for my finished product to be as close to "the real thing" as possible and so would add sugar to mine too but I'm unsure about what stage to do this (?).
Finally, the pods were put in the bottle (and stored in a cool, dark place - thanks for the reminder Kassie!) and that was it!
Now for the difficult bit - waiting.
I'm not absolutely :-) sure how long to wait but my plan is to shake the bottle every few weeks until the colour resembles "the real stuff".
My first impressions: the colour change starts immediately; there are LOTS of pod bits in the bottle (coffee filters will eliminate this issue I'm sure). If 'my vanilla' works as it should, the plan is to buy just the vanilla bean paste and substitute this for vanilla extract in future.
And just because, I slipped a third of one split pod onto my sugar bowl for some vanilla infused cups of yum.
Hi, just wanted to say that I've made this before (but with rum! :)) and left it for 8 weeks, shaking once or twice each week. By the end of the 8 weeks it turned into a lovely dark brown colour and is fantastic! Hope you enjoy it :)
ReplyDeleteHey Nina, thanks for the info on rum - I'll have to try it sometime - AND on timescales: 8 weeks is a handy timescale. I was gonna do the old 'sniff & eyeball' test to gauge for readiness ;-)
DeleteLovely! And very clever making your own vanilla extract. I bet the vanilla sugar smells yummy.
ReplyDeleteyou know it!
DeleteHomemade vanilla is so easy to make, and so much better than store bought! I have had my vodka vanilla bottle going for 3-4 years now. When I run low, I add fresh vodka and a vanilla bean or two. (I just leave all the old beans in there too) Don't forget to store it in a cool dark place. I store my large bottle in our pantry closet in the basement, and I have a smaller brown bottle to keep in the kitchen, that I refill from the large one. Enjoy!! :)
ReplyDeletewhoa! 3-4 YEARS? that's music to my ears. I'm now wishing I bought the larger bottle of vodka from which to decant my vanilla.
DeleteAnd of course, a cool, dark place (I'll amend my post to include this snippet). Thanks Kassia!
Oh, I forgot to include-- I don't bother to strain my vanilla extract before using it; I figure those little vanilla bean floaties are adding extra flavor. :)
DeleteI'd be comfortable with just the tiny beans floating about but there are other bits - possibly bits of bark?
DeleteI admit I've already filtered out a lot of these and will be more careful when splitting pods in future.