Tried making my own vanilla extract and it actually worked

I picked up 10 Madagascar vanilla beans at a local market in Portland for $15 and threw them in a bottle of cheap vodka back in February. I was sure I'd mess it up or it would taste like rubbing alcohol, but I just opened it yesterday and it smells amazing. The flavor is way deeper than the store stuff and now I'm wondering if I could do this with other extracts too. Anyone else experimented with making their own kitchen staples like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

wren6381mo ago

way deeper than the store stuff" - is it really though? I think there's a lot of confirmation bias going on with homemade stuff. You spent $15 on beans plus a bottle of vodka, let it sit for months, and now you're convincing yourself it's better. Storebought vanilla is standardized, tested, and consistently good. Homemade can vary wildly based on the beans, the alcohol proof, how long you let it sit. I've tried friends' homemade extracts and half the time they're weak or have a weird boozy bite. Plus you didn't save any money when you factor in time and materials. People act like making your own is some magic upgrade but it's really just a fun science experiment, not a replacement for the real thing.

charlescraig1mo ago

Are you actually comparing store bought vanilla that's mostly corn syrup and artificial vanillin to real extract? Most of the "pure vanilla extract" on shelves is cut with sugar and preservatives, not pure bean. And for the record, homemade extract costs about $2 an ounce vs $10+ for a decent store brand. You're not factoring in that people who make their own are using real vanilla beans and high proof alcohol, not the watered down crap in the grocery aisle.

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paul_taylor211mo ago

And that's exactly what I've been trying to say, @wren638. The whole "homemade is way deeper" argument ignores that most people are using cheap vodka and random beans from Amazon, hoping for magic. If you're not actually controlling for bean quality and alcohol proof, you're just making expensive vanilla-adjacent booze that tastes more like a science fair project than something you'd put in a cake.