Vanilla recipe

I have been enjoying my homemade vanilla that I had posted about earlier. Now that it has developed a nice color and flavor and has been refreshed a number of times, I thought it would be good to revisit the subject.

The vanilla recipe I used came from make some vanilla extract.

Pictured is my current stock.

Here is how it looked when first assembled.

I picked up some Indian vanilla beans from Stone Cottage (my favorite spice store), and some cheap vodka from my local liquor store.

Slice the beans lengthwise, leaving a bit at the end.
(In my case, if I were looking ahead, I should have left space on both ends.)

This is my favorite parring knife.

Then put them in a jar with a cup of vodka to cover the beans.
In order to cover them with just a cup of vodka I needed to move to a smaller jar, which necessitated cutting the beans in half.

Then wait two months... or as long as you can stand.

After it gets used some, just add more vodka.
If it starts getting thin, add more beans (prepared as above).
Eventually I will pull the beans and replace with fresh.
I'll never go back. It is so great being able to manage my own vanilla supply.

Tanya mentioned I should look into making vanilla sugar. Sounds like a fun adventure.