Make Your Own Vanilla

A long time ago I was at my grandmas house and she made me custard with real Mexican vanilla. After that I never liked most vanillas except for the "real bean." One day I thought what if I took a good sipping spirit and mixed it with a vanilla bean, wow what a great idea! After all isn't that what vanilla is supposed to be, beans and alcohol? :)
Of course years later with many recipes on the web I have found that I was not the first to think of this recipe, either way I love my homemade vanilla and so do others

Never Ending Homemade Vanilla

1 750 ML Bourbon or Cognac
10 Vanilla Beans
3 Tbsp of Sugar

I love to use cognac or Bourbon for this recipe.
Take a 750 ML bottle of a Good Bourbon or Cognac
Pour off 4 shots and set aside.
Cut beans long way and scrap seeds with back of a butter knife.
Dip in bottle & give it a stir, repeat 10 times.
Add sugar and shake until dissolved.
Take your scraped bean pods cut in half drop in bottle, save two if you want and place in a sugar jar with air tight lid for some vanilla sugar too.
Give the bottle another shake and place in a cool dark place for about 1-3 months.
Now take your four shots and bottoms up, you'll want a drink after all that shaking you just did.

Shake that bottle every day for the first few weeks for faster results.
After about 3 months your vanilla will start to thicken on its own.
When your vanilla gets down to the half way mark make sure you add new bean seeds & top it off with Bourbon or Cognac which ever you started with first; to keep your never ending home made vanilla.


There are many different types of vanilla beans, so play and have fun with it. The average start up cost is about $100.

I use this in my recipes that call for vanilla and on top of my homemade vanilla ice cream, this is not meant for kids.

I'd love to hear if you have you have a different way of doing homemade vanilla,
Ms. Foodie