It's an ugly thing, a Vanilla pod, but it smells and tastes wonderful. There are two main types of vanilla Tahitian and Bourbon (the island, not drink). They say that Tahitian is better for using in cooking and Bourbon is better for extracts. I cannot really tell the difference myself but there is the info that I have gleaned. Care of a vanilla bean/pod is simple. Store in an airtight container in a dark place. If storage is to be of a long duration freeze in an airtight container in a dark place.
You might not know but I'm value conscious (aka cheap) so it irritates me to see one vanilla bean in a glass jar on sale for more than $5 in the store. If you look you can find a dozen beans shrink wrapped for sale for that amount on the internet. Pure vanilla extract also irritates me because of it's cost, but we can fix that later.
If you do buy Vanilla extract in the store NEVER buy anything except for pure vanilla extract. If you do get something that says different it is adulterated with vanillan pulled from pine wood and who knows where else. Is it vanillin? Yes, but it's not nearly as good in taste & aroma, and who knows what traces of chemicals are in there.
Pure Vanilla extract contains alcohol and what it pulled from vanilla beans. Since we've found a source for cheap beans (I usually search eBay myself) vanilla extract is just a step away. We need alcohol!!! Cheap vodka is what you want, brand does not matter unless you think it does (I'm not going to argue the merits of what the definition is of a premium colorless odorless liquid).
Take about a pint of vodka and 5-12 vanilla beans and a mason jar. Split the beans in half and scrape out the 'seeds' inside the pod (they are not seeds but what else do you call what lives in a pod?). Put the scrapings in the mason jar, then cut up the remaining pod and drop in mason jar. Fill the jar with the vodka and seal tight (be very sure that the mason jar is clean and you are using a new lid otherwise flavors will mingle and that is bad). In 4-6 weeks you will have GREAT vanilla extract for about 10$ (if you bought that much retail it would be about 50-200 depending on where you shop and what you buy). We're not quite done with the vanilla yet though. Get a funnel and a coffee filter. Put the filter in the funnel and the funnel into a container that you can seal airtight and is suitable for long term storage of liquids. Slowly pour your extract into the funnel and you will filter out the pod bits and all of the specks that you scraped out of the pods earlier. Now we are done with the Vanilla extract (but not the vanilla).
What else can we do with these used vanilla bean parts? So glad you asked. If you let them airdry for a day you can add them to a bag of sugar (mix well) and they will perfume the entire bag into a great vanilla sugar suitable for whatever you want (vanilla cinnamon sugar toast is awesome). My choice though is to take that old mason jar and add 1/2-1 cup of sugar all the vanilla bits (no need to let them dry) and fill it up with cheap bourbon or rum. In another 4-6 weeks you will have an AMAZING sipping liqueur that you just cannot buy for the added cost of a cheap bottle of booze.
Link to vanilla beans on eBay:
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