DIY Vanilla Essence
Make it for yourself! Make it for your friends! Either way you'll never buy it again.
Vanilla essence is one of those ingredients that I tend to wilfully ignore the stated quantity of in recipes. Half a teaspoon? Hmm, surely that can’t be enough! I’d better add 2 tsp. See also: garlic. It’s expensive stuff though, if you buy the good one, and you’ll get through a bottle very quickly if you’re generously splashing it about like I do.
To prevent myself being bankrupted by Nielsen Massey I started making my own, and quickly realised it’s ridiculously simple. The only ingredients you need are vanilla pods and alcohol, specifically a spirit. I used whisky, but you could also use rum or vodka. The type of whisky, or other spirit, you use doesn’t matter so definitely go for the cheap stuff. I gave my boyfriend a scare pretending that I’d used his fancy one from the decanter (a 20 year old, barrel aged, single malt something.)
As a side note: I just had to check whether whisky is spelt with an ‘e’ or not and found that actually both are correct, depending on where the drink is made. If it’s made in Scotland or Japan it’s whisky and if it’s made in Ireland or the US it’s whiskey. Feel free to roll out this fact during any low moments of conversation at upcoming work/family gatherings, you’re welcome.
As for the vanilla, buy some pods online where they are a fraction of the price than what you’ll pay in a supermarket for sad solo pod. I got mine from Kiddu. They’re fat and juicy and smell incredible.
You’ll also need a bottle or three for filling. If I’m making a batch for myself I use a large Kilner bottle or similar (any narrow necked bottle works well - old salad dressing/sauce bottles tend to be good). But last year I specifically bought lots of little bottles so I could make some up for Christmas presents. You could also make one large bottle and decant it, but this seemed like extra work so I made up the little bottles at the start.
The method is ridiculously simple: place the vanilla pods in your chosen containers and then fill with alcohol. I like to add a small extra step to help the flavour diffuse more quickly, which is to make a small incision into the vanilla pods, cutting lengthways and not all the way through. Just pierce through the skin of the pod to reveal the squishy insides and release some of the lovely seeds. I only cut down the soft centre and leave the two ends intact. This way you don’t lose all the seeds to your essence and you can still scrape them out to use in another recipe.
I thought I’d test the efficacy of my slicing method, before sharing it, so set up a little experiment to see how much of a difference cutting the pods made, GCSE science eat your heart out. I bottled up three different variations of vanilla pods with varying degrees of interference: one uncut, one sliced through, one with double the vanilla. The sliced pod essence turned a deeper brown before the others so I feel safe to say it’s worth the little bit of extra effort.
Ideally you should leave your essence for at least a few weeks before using it, this will give it a chance to share some flavour with the booze. You’ll notice the colour change and get darker the longer the pods are in there. I found the remnants of a bottle I must’ve made a few years ago and it still tastes great, albeit rather strong! The alcohol preserves the vanilla pods, but just make sure that initially they’re fully covered. It seems that after they’ve been submerged for a time they’re so effectively pickled by the booze that they don’t then seem able to go off, so don’t worry too much if they start emerging from the liquid as you start to use it.
If you are concerned about your pods peeping out of the top as you start to use your essence you can either a) top up your bottle with more alcohol b) cut down the pods so they can stay under the alcohol or c) remove the pods to use elsewhere. I usually choose lazy option d) leave them to poke out as the bottle gets used up and I’ve never had an issue with them going mouldy.
Once you have used up all of your essence, keep hold of your pods as they will still have most of the seeds inside. You can scrape these out and use them in baking, any cakes or custard would appreciate a knife-tip of precious vanilla seeds. Once the seeds are all gone you can then store the empty pods in a jar of sugar to make vanilla sugar too. Just leave the pods to dry out a little first, to stop them from becoming crystallised.
I’m slightly reluctant to give a recipe as you can use any quantity of pods and dilution of alcohol, and I don’t want not having the right amount to put you off giving it a go. But here it is for those of you that prefer concrete instructions:
Vanilla Extract
Ingredients:
10 Vanilla Pods (links below)
1 Litre Vodka, Rum or Whiskey (get the cheap stuff)
Method:
Find a container/s for your vanilla essence and clean well (see above for suggestions of vessels).
If your vanilla pods wont fit in your container/s whole then trim to the right length, keeping them as long as possible (so that it’s easier to get the seeds out later)
Optional: Make an incision lengthways into the vanilla pods, not cutting all the way through, to help release the flavour.
Add the prepared pods to your container and fill with alcohol until the pods are completely covered.
Cover or lid and put to the side for at least 2 weeks but ideally one month minimum.
Note: The more pods and the less alcohol the quicker and stronger it will infuse, and visa versa.
Vanilla extract will last a very long time kept in the cupboard, I’ve never had one go off, it’s basically self-preserving in the alcohol, but if you’re worried you can remove the pods after a year.
Where to buy vanilla online
Some suggestions but feel free to do your own research, there are so many great options out there!
I’ve tried and liked the following:
Other supplies:
Contains aff. links.
I hope you find this useful and will give it a go for yourself!
Let me know in the comments if you’d like my GF + Vegan cupcake recipe too.
I am 100% making my own from this day forward. Thanks for the inspo Ellie. ☺️