How to Make Homemade Vanilla Extract

Learn How to Make Homemade Vanilla Extract, and you’ll never have to buy it again. Watch my video and print out the recipe in this post for step-by-step instructions. This vanilla extract is perpetual and will last indefinitely.

Making Homemade Extracts

Making homemade extracts is probably one of the easiest things to do. Vanilla Extract is probably the simplest, and it lasts the longest. Some call it a perpetual extract. Ina Garten, the best-selling cookbook author, once said that the beans used in her extract are almost 20 years old. Now that certainly warrants the perpetual label!

Step-by-Step Instructions

In my video, I walk you through the easy steps involved in making Vanilla Extract. You’ll simply cut the beans in half, split them down the middle, or do both. Next, you’ll place them in a quart-sized or one-liter jar and then fill it with vodka.

Why Vodka for My Extract?

I like to use vodka when making Vanilla Extract or any extract for that matter. Vodka is colorless and basically tasteless and odorless, so it lets the vanilla flavor shine through. However, you can also try other spirits, including rum or bourbon.

What If I Don’t Want to Use Alcohol for My Extract?

Remember that when you use a Homemade Extract, you will most likely use it in baking. The heat of the oven will help the alcohol dissipate and leave the lovely extract flavor behind.

However, if you are concerned about the high-proof alcohol used in making an extract, you have options. To replace the vodka or other high-proof alcohol in any extract recipe, simply substitute the alcohol called for with three parts liquid glycerine and one part water. Now, keep in mind that glycerine is, in essence, alcohol, but with a much lower alcohol content than 80-100 proof spirits.

One other option when making extracts is to use a low-alcohol wine mixed with glycerine to make your extract. To learn how to make homemade wine and use it with glycerin to make a low-alcohol extract, please visit my sweet friend Heidi over at Rain Country Homestead.

More Ideas for the Traditional Foods Pantry

Now that you’ve learned how to make homemade Vanilla Extract, be sure to try your hand at making more Homemade Extracts and other essentials for stocking your Traditional Foods Pantry.

Homemade Vinegar Recipes

Making vinegars can be fun too, and they look great next to the homemade extracts in your pantry. I recommend starting out with a homemade Apple Cider Vinegar, but depending on the season, fruit scrap vinegars would be perfect too.

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Shop for items used in this blog post or video

Favorite Homemade Vanilla Supplies

• Madagascar Vanilla Beans
• Italian Clamp Glass Jar

Favorite Kitchen Supplies

• Favorite Aprons
• Spice Grinder
• Countertop Burner (On my kitchen island in many recipe videos.)
• Handheld Vacuum Sealing System
• Vacuum Lids
• Whisk
• Silica Gel Packets (Helps keep moisture from building up in your mix)
• Cast Iron Dutch Oven
• 8-Quart Slow-Cooker
• Fat Separator (Clever kitchen device to help you decant bone broth)
• Flour Sack Towels
• pH Strips (Helps you check on the acidity of your vinegar)

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Recommended Reading

• The Modern Pioneer Cookbook
• Nourishing Traditions
• Apple Cider Vinegar Handbook
• The Pickled Pantry

• Apple Cider Vinegar Handbook

• The Pickled Pantry