(no subject)

[firsttiger]

This year has brought a shortage in vanilla and as such, prices could potentially quadruple in the coming months. Inveterate and often large scale baker that I am, I have been sure to bolster my supply. Admittedly, I also rather enjoy playing with making my own extracts, so I want to be certain I can keep experimenting without breaking the bank.

Last week, I filtered about 24oz of Tahitian vanilla and slightly more of the Madagascar. I found that once I had retrieved the beans and filtered out the caviar, the resulting yield gave me nearly 7 pounds of vanilla sugar. As it turns out, it also puts a person in a great mood to putter with such things for a morning.:) The bourbon vanilla of this round is not yet ready to be filtered, but that is no surprise given it usually needs about three times as long to be ready.

This is my current vanilla, both finished and in process extracts.

Comments

[alpha-strike.livejournal.com]

Oh, yum! I can thing of hundreds of fun things to do with that much vanilla. Drink it out of the bottle, for example. (Well, not really... OK, maybe.)

I bet your kitchen smelled fabulous while you were filtering.

[firsttiger.livejournal.com]

The finished bottle of bourbon vanilla I have was made with Woodford Reserve. I'm not a big bourbon drinker, but that's supposed to be a good one....though quite frankly you really shouldn't use good booze for vanilla.:) I just happened to have a bit about.

And yes, the place smelled amazing while I was doing the work. Made me rather chipper.

[crystalgee.livejournal.com]

I wasn't aware of a vanilla shortage!

Perhaps I should experiment with making extracts, that might be an idea.

[firsttiger.livejournal.com]

Cheap vodka, a bottle for aging and a couple of split beans. Almost stupidly easy.:)