Learn to make Homemade Vanilla Extract!

Yes indeed. The four boys and I went into Walmart a few days ago for the sole purpose of buying vodka. A gallon of it.

I felt the need to tell the check out lady why I was buying an entire gallon of vodka. She just looked at me like I was a lunatic and shrugged as if to say, “Hey, do whatever you want to with your vodka, girl.”

And then she wouldn’t let Justus carry it out of the store. You know…just in case I was buying the vodka for my nine year old minor.

It made for some good discussion on the way home: what drinking alcohol can do to your brain…why the lady had to make sure I was over 21 to buy it…why it’s okay to carry a watermelon out of Walmart when you’re nine but not a couple jugs of vodka.

All that to say:  I just started my very first batch of homemade vanilla!!! I’m super excited. My friend Jill sent me a beautiful bottle of her homemade vanilla a couple of weeks ago and it’s fabulous!!! (I guess you could say that I was pressured by a friend into buying alcohol. “Go ahead Laura…make your own vanilla. Everyone’s doing it.”)

Now that I’m hooked on the idea…I thought I’d try to influence you too…

What You Need to Make Homemade Vanilla Extract

A gallon jar
One gallon of Vodka (the cheap stuff is fine) (To keep you from standing in the liquor section too long to calculate this…2 bottles of 1.75 liters each will be the exact amount you need to make a gallon of vanilla.)
50-80 Vanilla Beans (You’ll need about 1/2 – 3/4 pound) – enter code home for a 20% discount on Vanilla Beans through Olive Nation!!
Kitchen shears

Begin by slicing through each bean lengthwise, leaving about one inch at the top of each bean uncut so that it stays together.

See? Like this…

Place all of your cut Vanilla Beans into your jar.

Fill the jar with vodka. (I took the following picture with my left hand while pouring the vodka with my right hand. This proves that apparently…I can really handle my liquor.)

Once the jar is full with beans and vodka, put the lid on…then put the jar in a dark place (like in the back of a cabinet). It needs to stay there for FOUR to SIX MONTHS in order to become vanilla extract! Occasionally, you should get it out and shake it up a bit, then put it back into it’s dark place.

Here’s the cool thing:  If you start a batch of vanilla really soon, it will be ready in time to put into little bottles and give as Christmas gifts. (Family members reading this – you have exactly six months to forget all about this post and be surprised on Christmas morning.)  If you don’t get it started right this minute, from what I’ve researched, a little less than six months of “vanilla extracting” time won’t hurt anything.

To complete your vanilla once four-six months have passed:  strain out your vanilla beans with a coffee filter lined colander and tada…you have vanilla extract! Bottle it up in dark amber bottles – give it as gifts and start cooking with it yourself!! Yum!

AND…if you don’t want to make a whole gallon of vanilla…you can make a lesser amount:

• 1/2 gallon of vanilla….use 1/2 gallon of vodka (1.75 liters) and20-30 Vanilla Beans (enter code home for a 20% discount!)
• 1 quart of vanilla…use one quart of vodka and 10-15 Vanilla Beans (enter code home for a 20% discount!)

Well…I know I’ve influenced many of you to eat healthier and plant potatoes in a container. Is it now possible that several of you are going to run out to buy liquor? Tell the clerk the Heavenly Homemaker sent you.
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Read this post to learn how to finish and strain your vanilla after 4-6 months.

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I recommend that you purchase your Vanilla Beans through Olive Nation. You’ll receive 20% off your entire order!!!! Thank you Olive Nation for offering HeavenlyHomemakers readers free shipping on orders over $50 and a special 20% discount!

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You can purchase dark amber bottles here.

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Here’s where I ordered my labels for vanilla bottles.

I, also, love these pretty labels! They are customizable, and come in several designs.

I just wanted to share some quick tips about making sunbutter. I mentioned that I would experiment with it after learning to make peanut butter. I’ve been experimenting with it…and have come to a conclusion:

It is not as easy to make as the peanut butter is. :)

Using raw sunflower seeds I tried to make sunbutter  just like I had made the peanut butter. Except that I processed it and processed it, and it never turned creamy. It became kind of mealy…and stayed that way. 

I added a few drops of olive oil and processed some more. No change.

I finally gave up. Sort of. I mean…I was determined to figure this thing out because Malachi won’t eat peanut butter (long story). And sunbutter is pricey.

So…I took the mealy sunbutter…and made it into mudballs because that’s one of Malachi’s favorite snacks. I just substitute the peanut butter for sunbutter. Ah-hah! Even though the sunbutter started out mealy…the mudballs came out perfectly! Score!

At least I know that the mealy sunbutter works when you mix it into other recipes!

Then…I added a bit of honey to the rest of the mealy sunbutter and put it into a jar and then into the fridge. The honey didn’t make it smooth and creamy, but it did make it less dry. I think it will work great to spread on toast or a tortilla.

By the way, I did a Swagbuck search and discovered that 1) There aren’t many ideas out there for making sunbutter and 2) Anyone else who tried to make sunbutter ended up with mealy sunbutter. It’s good to know that I’m normal. (At least in the area of making sunbutter.)

Do any of you have any experience making sunbutter or other nut butters? 
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This post is linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesdays.