Homemade Vanilla Extract

I've been wanting to make homemade vanilla extract for a while now. I finally bought a cheap bottle of vodka today to make it. I took out a bit to make room for the vanilla beans and tried it. Yep, tastes like soap. I don't drink much at all (first taste all year) and this stuff is nasty. Oh well, that means it's perfect for making vanilla extract. It said it was made in the US, so that's why I chose this one over another of the same price.

I still had vanilla beans from a 2011 Ebay order. It was a great deal, order x amount of beans and get 10 free Grade B Tahitian vanilla beans for free. I used all 10 along with 2 Madagascar Bourbon vanilla beans (also from the same order).

I usually get the 1 oz/29 ml bottle of Watkins vanilla for $4.99

McCormick Vodka 750ml bottle $6.99

10 Grade B vanilla beans $free

2 Grade A Madagascar Bourbon vanilla beans $1.33

= $8.32 for a 750 ml bottle of vanilla extract, or 25 of the little bottles, a $129 value. 

Now really, can you argue with that? 

I use a lot of vanilla extract. I even put it in pancakes. For me, it is worth it to do a large bottle. You can also do a small bottle. It's roughly 3-5 beans for each cup of vodka. 

I still have quite a few of the Grade A beans left. I have two split beans in a container of sugar for vanilla sugar. When a baking recipe calls for sugar, that's what I use. I need to change them out one of these days, but the two in there are over a year old and still smell fantastic.

Original idea from here: Chickens In The Road

Vanilla beans from here: Vanilla Products USA (Ebay store)

(I have nothing to do with either of these sites, just a fan!)