How to Make Pure Vanilla Extract

Is baking cake at home, a frequent affair? Then it doesn’t harm to have a well-stocked kitchen, with the right ingredients at your disposal, every time you wish to indulge in a cake baking experience.

Among the essentials that you need to hoard, be sure that you don’t miss out on a bottle of pure vanilla extract. While you could easily purchase the same from your local market, making it at home will ensure that you get a pure extract, devoid of artificial flavours and harmful chemicals.

A pure vanilla extract is made from whole vanilla beans,infused in more than 35% alcohol. And it goes without saying that, better the quality of the beans, more superior will be the extract.

Here’s how to go about it-

  • Slice the vanilla beans longitudinally and store them in a glass bottle.
  • Now fill the bottle with alcohol till the sliced beans are totally submerged in it. As for the choice of alcohol, Vodka is usually preferred for its neutral taste but if you are in a mood to experiment, you can use rum or brandy to derive flavoured extracts.
  • That’s pretty much it. Keep the bottle away from sunlight in a cool, dark place. But you can only enjoy the fruits of your labour after 2 months. Allow the beans to infuse in alcohol till then and return to the bottle, twice a week, to give it a good shake.

After 8 weeks, voila! Your very own home made vanilla extract is ready.