Healthy Homemade // Vanilla Extract

With consumers gaining more and more knowledge about what's really in their food and knowing how to read food labels, some of us have turned to homemade alternatives. As a mom, homemade gives me the feeling of security that I know what's in the food I'm feeding my family...but it sometimes gives me this tense sigh that makes me think and when exactly will I have time for that?  When I come across a solution for a healthier food staple for my pantry that takes pretty much ZERO effort, I am thrilled!  (Read more about why regular store bought vanilla isn't what you think it is and another article on how to make it yourself here.)

A perfect gift for a healthy foodie came in the form of beans...delicious smelling vanilla beans that is. For Christmas this past year my mom gifted me a Vanilla Infusion Kit from Salt Sisters, which included a unique glass bottle with three fragrant organic vanilla beans. (Well, my kit actually included extra vanilla beans so I could make multiple batches.) And my clever mama found more bottles for me to make the extra batches. Yay, a gift that would lead to more gifts! I love it.

After several months of waiting for the infusion to take place, I finally have my very first bottle of homemade vanilla extract. It was finished infusing just in time to make a special birthday cake for my hubby. Perfect! It was divine and had just as strong flavor as any store bought vanilla I'd ever used but at a fraction of the cost. See the breakdown below.

What you're saving:: 

Salt Sisters Vanilla Infusion Kit:  $31.25
Extra vanilla beans for two more bottles: $7.95
Cheap, bottom-shelf vodka: $6.99
Grolsch 4 pack of beer to use the bottles: $7.99
Total: $54.18 for 3 16oz bottles (48 oz)

Grand Total: $1.12/oz

Store bought Simply Organic Vanilla, 4 oz

Local grocery price:  $9.89
Online health store, Vitacost: $8.09

Grocery cost for 48 oz (12 bottles): $118.68
$2.47/oz

Online cost for 48 oz (12 bottles): $97.08
$2.02/oz

Instructions::
1. Have your hubby drink 2 Grolsch beers. (He loved this idea already!)
2. Clean your beer bottles and dry them. Add 2 beans to each bottle. (The Salt Sisters bottle came ready to go.)
3. Fill bottles with Vodka.
4. Store in a cool dark place for several months. This could take anywhere from 2-4 months. Mine took three and a half months before there was no alcohol smell.
5. Use, gift and enjoy!