According to this informative article in Cooks Illustrated:
“Vanilla is a powerful ‘flavor potentiator,’ meaning it enhances our ability to taste other foods including chocolate, coffee, fruit, and nuts, and boosts our perception of sweetness.”
This may be why vanilla extract is a staple ingredient in baked goods. The article goes on to say that real extract is recommended for cooking, and making cold creamy desserts, but that imitation may be an ok substitute for cookies (as extreme heat changes the taste).
(*Photo courtesy of Edmond H. Lee)
Natural vanilla extract can be expensive, so when I came across a blog post about it on Simply Recipes, I knew immediately that I wanted to give it a whirl.
I started out by purchasing two dozen Madagascar vanilla beans from Beanilla trading company, for about $1 each. The beans were vaccuum packed and fresh, and they taste great!
Once you’ve used up most of it, you can add more alcohol and vanilla beans to keep it going. You can use dark rum as well. This project takes about 4-6 weeks to make, but it is totally easy, awesome and delicious!
(Adjusted from Simply Recipes)
Ingredients:
4 cups of vodka
4 vanilla beans
Procedure:
1. Using kitchen scissors or a sharp paring knife, cut lengthwise down each vanilla bean, splitting them in half, leaving an inch at the end connected.
2. Place vanilla beans in the glass jar. Cover completely with the vodka. Shake!
3. Store in a dark, cool place for 2 months or longer. It is also helpful to shake the bottle every once in a while.
You can also add simple syrup if you’d like. The color will gradually get darker as time goes by. I like to add vanilla extract when cooking pancakes or waffles, as well as a little in my coffee.
(*Very last of Edmond H. Lee’s photos!)
$1 per? That’s not cheap! Wonderful work, Chef Chai! And very cool photos Edmond! It looks all…anatomical. Is that the right word?
May 21, 2009
Interesting… homemade vanilla extract. I didn’t realize it was vodka that went into the extract. How do you know what the concentration is, i.e. if a recipe calls for 1 tsp, what is equivalent with the homemade kind?