Anyone made their own vanilla extract?

zippychick

there is a much older thread here but it should stll help. This would make a nice gift for bakers if the price was right, must have a think ...

ill merge this in with it later

Zip

Fruball

Steve059 wrote: »

See http://www.vanillamart.co.uk/extract-grade-vanilla-pods/.

Thank you for that - I have put an order in and will make my own extract - I hadn't ever thought of it before!

jackyann

You can use almost any alcohol that doesn't have a strong taste of its own. I honestly think that if you are buying even cheap brandy its not worthwhile, compared to Lakeland's extract. However, I have used some of my inherited stash to do some "extracting".

vikki_louise

Where do you all get your pods from? I got one from Sainsburys a few years back and was shocked at the price!

Dippypud

vikki_louise wrote: »

Where do you all get your pods from? I got one from Sainsburys a few years back and was shocked at the price!

Lidl sell them in a box ...

Fruball

Steve059 wrote: »

See http://www.vanillamart.co.uk/extract-grade-vanilla-pods/.

Steve posted a link to this website which sells them for a fraction of the price of supermarkets.

Steve059

I did, I did.

My 20 mid-range Indian ones cost me £5.50 (inc. P&P) or just 27.5p each.

And they're infinitely better than the wizened specimens from a certain well-known firm that'll cost you £2.50 each in a supermarket. But you do get a nice jar, though.

The pods are long, plump and sticky. I used one to make some home-made vanilla ice cream. I got more seeds out of each "quarter", than out of an entire supermarket one. The resulting ice cream was speckled with seeds and not only tasted of, but also smelled of vanilla.

And the pods come in sealed packs of 5, so you don't have to open them all at once.

I can't find any reason not to recommended them.

Fruball

WOW! That is what I call VANILLA!!!

I had a couple of envelopes stuck in the letterbox and went to pull them out - I couldn't remember what I had ordered recently but the fragrance from the envelope hit me immediately!

These (I bought extract grade) vanilla pods are as long as kitchen cutlery and you can taste sweet vanilla in the air!

20 whacking great pods for £3.50 delivered!

Thanks Steve

Seakay

Thanks to Steve059 I received 50 extract quality vanilla pods for £7.50 delivered from vanillamart, my hall smells great where they landed on the mat and I'm making some vanilla extract using 5 split beans to 8fl oz 40% vodka.

gayleygoo

I bougth vanilla pods off ebay, I think it was under £4 delivered for 10 long madagascan vanilla pods, which were very sticky and delcious! I will never buy another sorry looking dried out pod from the supermarket again, never mind how cost-ineffective it is to do it that way. When I was making a custard tart last week I got nearly a tsp of vanilla goo scraped from the inside of the pod, it was great!

For my extract I used a small flip-top jar from B&M, added two vanilla pods and filled up with vodka. It can be topped up with vodka practically forever! You can make other extracts in the same way - I've also got a cinnamon one, and planning a mint extract (although you only leave the mint in for a couple of days or it goes yuck apparently)

When you've finished with the vanilla pod in a recipe, give it a rinse (unless it was in spirits, then you don't need to), let it dry out and add to a jar of sugar. I go through quite a lot of vanilla sugar and my jar is constantly being topped up!