Make using several long beans and brandy.
Make your own vanilla flavoring or vanilla-flavored liqueur with a few beans and some brandy. Aging the vanilla beans will release their oils and the brandy adds a sweeter tone to the flavor. Many recipes use vodka -- a more sterile, flavorless alcohol -- to bring out the flavor of vanilla and vanilla alone. While commercial producers use a cold-press extracting process, which makes for a stronger vanilla extract, the marinating process you can follow at home will be strong enough to use in your own baking.
Instructions
1. Buy vanilla beans from an online merchant or in some specialty spice shops. While Madagascar, Tahitian and Bourbon are the most popular commercial beans, there are different varietals available through wholesalers and online merchants.
2. Pour 16 oz. of brandy into a quart jar or other clear canning jar. While a glass jar is not mandatory, bakers from PlanetGreen.com and The Kitchen Project recommend it.
3. Split six along their length with a scissors or sharp knife, leaving one end of each bean uncut.
4. Shove the beans into the canning jar and immerse them in brandy. Push the beans down completely into the liquid when they become soft enough to bend. Because the beans will be brittle when you get them, they may have to sit in the brandy and soak up some of the moisture from the alcohol before this is possible.
5. Seal the jar with a canning lid and store it in a cool, dry place.
6. Shake the mixture for a few minutes every day.
7. Age the liquid from four to eight weeks, depending on how strong of a vanilla flavor you want. The longer you age the vanilla, the stronger it becomes.
Tags: vanilla beans, beans will, vanilla extract