I’m just as bad as the discount stores with the way Christmas is barely over and they start putting out Valentine’s stuff. But I promise, there’s a good reason for me mentioning Mother’s Day and the end of the school year at the beginning of January. Really.
First, it takes 4-6 months to make a good, strong batch of delicious homemade vanilla extract, so starting this process now is a great idea. Second, you can get 10% off Vanilla Beans at Olive Nation, plus free shipping.
1. Read here about how to make Homemade Vanilla Extract.
2. Get your vanilla beans ordered, using the code home for a 10% discount.
3. Your vanilla beans will come in just a few days (their customer service is as awesome as the quality of their vanilla beans). Then you can get your vanilla started and have it ready for simple, quick, but wonderful gifts come Mother’s Day and the end of the school year. Order some fun labels to make your bottles extra pretty! I love this set of labels that my friend makes: they are customizable, and come in a variety of designs!
And it certainly doesn’t hurt that you’ll also have fantastic vanilla extract for yourself too. :)
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Yay! I’m getting ready to start another batch. :) My Christmas batch sold out, and that was even with some of it being bottles from fall time.
Oh yeah, and Laura I was going to ask you how you ship yours? Because when I went to ship one to a friend overseas the post office would not let me since it’s made of an alcohol base. Any tips on this?
We did a ton of research and found that it was ok to ship USPS.
Overseas, I’m not sure though. :)
LOL! I hope you mean “mother” when you say teacher because taking alcohol on campus of a public school will get you arrested!
I definitely didn’t think about that. But still…when it’s in the form of vanilla? That’s a bummer.
I had one of my kids in public school for 1 year, and it was the worst year of our lives (mine & hers). Trust me, rules don’t need to make sense there, they just have to be followed. :(
Really dumb question from my addled, tired-from-break, stressed-about-tomorrow’s-lecture brain — what portion size do you use to bottle your homemade vanilla for gifts? (See I can’t even write a sentence in plain English.)
Not a dumb question! I usually give away 4 or 8 ounce bottles for gifts. 8 ounce for sure if the recipient loves baking!
Great! Ordered my first vanilla beans. Looking forward to this “project”!
Any idea how long is *TOO* long to let a batch of vanilla sit? Was cleaning out my cupboard and found a half gallon of vanilla I started some time ago. And by some time I mean over two years ago, pushing three. I know. Bad me. It’s just vodka and vanilla beans, but it really has been a long time. Likely some STRONG vanilla, but is it still okay to use?
I had some sit in the pantry for 3 years. Best vanilla I ever made! Now I’m planning to have a rotating collection of beans marinating, and hopefully get to where I’m ALWAYS using vanilla that’s been soaking for 2+ years. Vodka is a preservative, so I’m not worried about things rotting. I slice my beans open and scoop all the seeds out into the jar with the vodka, and then put the beans in, so the vodka can thoroughly saturate everything.
I would still use it! Maybe just half the amount needed in recipes. It is probably amazing though! :)
I’m SO very glad you’ve got the discount code posted here… and the Olive Nation still accepts it! I ordered my pound of beans last week, and roped a friend into helping me. We got them sliced open, scooped out (I like to get as much surface area as possible into contact with the vodka), weighed out into jars (3.5 oz. beans for every 4 c. vodka), vodka run through the Brita 6x (to cut the ‘bite’), and then took a lunch break.
After lunch, we broke out the old beans, which had been used already, to grind them up for vanilla sugar. Took us longer than usual – the blender kept overheating, but eventually we got all those old beans ground up and mixed w/sugar to use as toppings… and that’s when I discovered that the “old” beans were still sitting on the counter. We’d used the NEW ones to make vanilla sugar with! AARGH!
So – I’ve ordered a new pound of vanilla, and I’ll start all over again. But, since the discount code still works, I saved $6 each time on my pounds of beans! At least the vodka’s pre-filtered. And I’ll have enough vanilla sugar to last for years!