I walk into the liquor store. I have no idea where to go, as I have never been in one before. I know I need one thing. Vodka. The cheapest biggest bottle I can find. Two of them. And I need them now. Before it's too late.
Why?!
Because I am making homemade vanilla extract and my vanilla beans just arrived in the mail! I have got to get them soaking soon so the vanilla is ready around Christmas time!!! Here are the beauties:
I have learned from the lovely woman at www.heavenlyhomemakers.com how to make my own vanilla, so here I go! What you need:
1 gallon of Vodka
3/4 lb fresh vanilla beans
1 gallon jar
...and that's it...
Then when the glorious vanilla beans come, you cut them up the middle (to let the beans out) almost to the tip, leaving the very top connected. Put them in the jar.
Dump the 2 huge bottles of Vodka into the jar. All of the vodka. No saving any for other uses. You'll mess it all up.
Then seal the jar and place in a dark area for 4-6 months, and then you will have your very strong, very yummy vanilla! It will make great gifts. And even greater cooking addition. When we make homemade vanilla ice cream, we usually put in twice as much vanilla as is called for. With this we won't need to, because apparently this vanilla is much stronger than the junk you can buy in the stores. Which doesn't have much actual vanilla in it anyway.
I'm pretty stoked about my new little project. Partly the fact that it took all of 20 minutes to put it together and now I just wait until it's done. And partly the fact that now I know my way around the liquor store. :)
Dump the 2 huge bottles of Vodka into the jar. All of the vodka. No saving any for other uses. You'll mess it all up.
Then seal the jar and place in a dark area for 4-6 months, and then you will have your very strong, very yummy vanilla! It will make great gifts. And even greater cooking addition. When we make homemade vanilla ice cream, we usually put in twice as much vanilla as is called for. With this we won't need to, because apparently this vanilla is much stronger than the junk you can buy in the stores. Which doesn't have much actual vanilla in it anyway.
I'm pretty stoked about my new little project. Partly the fact that it took all of 20 minutes to put it together and now I just wait until it's done. And partly the fact that now I know my way around the liquor store. :)
I'll have to try that when we move! There's nothing worse than bad vanilla!
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