I’ve been working on pieces lately with recipes that are so simple but that have become more common as store-bought items for most people, including salad dressings, herb salt, and the latest recipe in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon: homemade vanilla extract. Beyond all of the reasons I give in my column for turning vanilla beans into extract, I’ve found that the process essentially acts as my vanilla bean storage system, keeping the expensive pods from spoiling.

Most grocery stores sell vanilla beans a pod at a time, the long, thin, dark shape tucked into a vial. Depending on how well it’s been sealed, the bean might be oily and pliable or dry and brittle. Sellers recommend keeping the bean as packaged until you need to use it but airing it out if you still have it 3 to 6 months later. I hadn’t realized how crucial this was until a friend who had bought oily, pliable vanilla beans in a vacuum-sealed pack opened the bag one day to find they had molded. But if you store the beans in alcohol, they not only create vanilla extract for you but also stay mold free. Just make sure they’re completely submerged.

Learn more about storing and using vanilla beans and get the complete recipe for Homemade Vanilla Extract in my column.

Make it, share it.
Tag @twiceastastyblog and #twiceastastyblog

Twice as Tasty

Two of my family’s traditional Christmas cookies rely on vanilla, so I always want to have a full supply of beans and extract by the holidays. That means making extract now so that it can spend the next several months developing its flavor. That way, I’m ready to make these recipes at the start of the holiday season.

• Vanilla Bean Cookies
• Chocolate Rum Balls
• Creamy Roasted Pumpkin Pie

These might be my big vanilla-focused recipes, but I find plenty of other ways to use the beans and extract throughout the year—including in the recipe I’ll be sharing next week. Earlier this year, I also worked on a series of dessert recipes for Taste of Home that had me dipping heavily into my homemade vanilla extract stash.

• Chocolate Cream Pie
• Custard Pie
• French Silk Pie
• Cherry Cream Cheese Pie
• Banana Nut Bread
• White Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Sweet Potato Cake

You can find more of my recipes that use vanilla beans or vanilla extract in the blog’s recipe index and more of my work off the blog here.

Want more Twice as Tasty recipes? Get my books! Click here to order a personally signed, packaged, and shipped copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling directly from me. I also share tasty ways to use pickles in The Pickled Picnic; it’s only available here.