Vanilla

I'm finally making a big bottle of homemade vanilla extract! I've wanted to try this for several years and I'm finally doing it. Last night I added 10 vanilla beans (split lengthwise) to a 1-liter bottle of vodka, and it's in the pantry to stay in the dark for a few weeks (I'll shake it once a week). I just bought generic brand Vodka and I purchase my vanilla beans on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Premium-Bourbon-Madagascar-Vanilla-Beans-beans/dp/B000ET4SM8/ref=sr_1_cc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305461677&sr=1-1-catcorr

This is by far the cheapest way I have found to buy them! $9.29 for 16 beans + free shipping, or $8 for 2 small, dry beans at Target? That's about how much they cost at the grocery store, at least in my experience. The vanilla beans from this merchant are also very soft, moist and pungent - very nice quality. So, with the cost of 10 beans, plus the bottle of vodka, we'll get a whole liter of vanilla extract for about $13.25. A 1-oz bottle of McCormick pure vanilla is about $8, so that's a clear cost-savings! Supposedly you can also reuse the vanilla beans if it's within a year. I'll update the blog in a few weeks when it's "matured"!