"Bean" Busy

I know things were pretty quiet here on the blog before Christmas, and part of the reason was that a few of the things we were busy at were Christmas gifts. One of those projects was a big batch of homemade vanilla that we made, bottled, labeled and gave to lots of family and friends.

It was actually a pretty simple process, but it does require thinking ahead because it has to sit and brew for at least a month. Basically, you combine vanilla beans, chopped into approximately 1" pieces, and vodka, and shake daily for at least a month. Ours sat for closer to two months, and the longer it sits, the stronger the flavor becomes.

Then I just set up a little straining system, placing a coffee filter inside a strainer to get out as many little particles as possible.

After it was strained, I used a tiny funnel to fill two dozen 4 ounce bottles.

The fun part for me was making a punny little label.

There are lots of instructions for making vanilla available online, and the vendor I ordered the beans from through Amazon even sent some as well. If you are making your own, I would recommend ordering the beans from Amazon as the prices are a lot better than what you would pay at the grocery store. It was a fun project for us and we even have a little leftover for our own baking.