Ode To Vanilla

I feel like I owe an apology to vanilla. It's so ubiquitous in cooking and baking that I spent years taking the flavor for granted.  To me, "vanilla" was just another word for "plain". 

Oh vanilla, I'm so sorry.

These days, I know better.

Vanilla is one of the most expensive food items in the world (it's price per ounce is second only to saffron) and while vanilla flavoring from the store can be cheaply obtained, the pure stuff, the better stuff is going to cost you.

Luckily, making your own vanilla is an option. It's also a lesson in patience but we'll get to that later.

Start with the beans.  There's a lot of great places to get grade A vanilla beans. I get them from Beanilla. There is also a number of different types of beans to choose from. I use Tahitian because their description includes the words "Chocolate" and "Caramel". Sold.

Cut the beans in half and distribute them amongst your containers. I used eight half-pint mason jars and put about six pieces of bean sticks in each one. 

Next, fill each jar with your favorite brand of vodka (because I know you have a favorite brand of vodka), put the lids on tight, and give each jar a good shake.

Now comes the patience-testing part: put the jars in a cool dark place (the back of a pantry works great) and shake the jars once a week...for three months.

The vanilla is okay to be used after about a month of jar-shakings and back-of-cabinet-sittings but at the three month mark the flavors will be at their strongest.