12 Days of Christmas in Jar – Home Made Vanilla Extract
Posted by Tara on Tuesday, December 4th, 2012
Do you like the taste of real vanilla extract but hate to pay the price? Unless you have a relative headed to Mexico or Central America who can bring you back some foreign vanilla, you would probably pay over $20 US dollars for a pint of vanilla extract. OR you could pick up a cheap bottle of Vodka (6 bucks) and a vanilla bean pod (3 bucks) and make your own vanilla extract for a lot less money. If you have a pint sized Mason jar, fill it with the Vodka and add the vanilla bean pod. Put a lid on the jar to seal it, then set it in a dark cabinet and forget about it for 4-6 months. The longer the jar sets, the darker and more flavorful the vanilla will become. Then you can adorn the jar and give it as a gift. Also Vodka will easily take on the flavor of other spices and even herbs (I’ve read this but not tried it yet). I could have filled another pint jar with the remaining Vodka if I had bought 2 vanilla bean pods back in May instead of 1. So a quart – 32 oz of home made vanilla would cost me about 12 dollars. Oh, and save those vanilla beans – they can be used again when you make your next batch!
Filed in Christmas,Miscellaneous | 2 responses so far
2 Responses to “12 Days of Christmas in Jar – Home Made Vanilla Extract”
Tara this is awesome! Where do you find the vanilla bean pod? Thanks so much!
Trader Joe’s has them for 2 for 5$ according to Julie. I got mine at Fresh Market but I don’t get down that way very often. I think Kroger had them but they were quite a bit more – so much I didn’t buy one there. I bet we could order online sometime. I will check on that.