Vanilla Christmas gifts

Last year around Christmas time we decided it would be awesome to give out gifts of Vanilla.  We did a little bit of research and realized that in order to make “good” Vanilla we would need to take a few more months to prepare.  On February 3, 2012 we started working on our Christmas presents for 2012.  Beat that!! Our gifts have been 10 months in the making, and I have loved every minute of it!

We took pictures throughout the process of making the Vanilla, but I never did anything with them, so here goes.

A lot of research went into making our Vanilla. I read on Pinterest that you just stick a vanilla bean in vodka and viola, you have Vanilla.  Brent does not work that way.  He needs precision and it needs to be the best, and most pure Vanilla possible.  People online stated that making yourself Vanilla extract is cheaper than buying vanilla…I am pretty sure that was not the case with us.  After getting the best quality beans we could afford (or couldn't) with not the cheapest vodka we could fine, I think we might be breaking even.  So for the price of a nice dinner and a movie date, we had a blast one Friday night mixing our Vanilla and it was totally worth it!

Did you know that FDA regulations state that pure Vanilla extract contains 13.35 oz vanilla bean per gallon of alcohol (70 proof/35%alcohol). So when I read all over the web that you just add one bean to a cup of alcohol…that is indeed not the case.  We needed about 6 beans per one cup of alcohol to make FDA grade vanilla.

There are so many different types of vanilla beans out there! We had no idea which beans to buy, so after some research we decided to buy Madagascar and Tahitian vanilla beans.  We got them from two different sources on the internet. From first glance, the Madagascar beans looked better. They were moist and looked like they would be better…(we had no idea what they were supposed to look like so our ideas in our mind could be completely wrong J). The Tahitian beans seemed to be a little on the dry side, but that would work for our project.

After my very first experience of going to a liquor store, we were ready to start our project.

1.       Procure ingredients

2.       Clean kitchen and organize

3.       Find the plastic gloves so Brent didn't smell girly for days :)

4.       Measure vanilla beans to .834 oz piles (this will go into 1 cup vodka)

5.       Cut down the center of the bean and scrap the vanilla beans out the inside (not sure if this is necessary, but we did it anyways)

.       Put vanilla beans in jar

7.       Measure 1 cup of vodka

8.       Pour excess vodka back into container…(some people might just swig the difference, but considering we don’t drink, this step was more work for us :))

9.       Seal jars and shake up the vanilla

10.   Step back and admire your work

11.   Store the vanilla in a dark place

12.   Shake the vanilla every day for the first 2 week, then every couple of weeks after that

13.   Strain the vanilla

14.   Enjoy delicious homemade vanilla!! (both Vanilla’s turned out great.  In the end I like the Tihitian vanilla better.  We had a taste test with homemade Vanilla Ice cream and Brent was not able to tell a difference.  Both are great and we have used both of them in cooking.  It all just depends on your preference.)

15.   Share with friends

a.       Find ity bity bottles

b.      Confuse people by buying so many bottles

c.       Debate what we should name our vanilla

d.      Do nothing for a week because we can’t decide on a name

e.      Gaylene make labels

f.        Brent come home and laugh at Gaylene’s labels and make new ones

g.       Brent glue labels onto every bottle

h.      Debate what type of a box to make for the bottles

i.         Cut and fold by hand way too many little triangle boxes

j.        Give to friends

k.       Explain how to open the box

l.         Ahh we made it to the end

      16.   Start brainstorming next year’s gifts