really, this isn't much of an experiment, as evidenced by a very robust thread about homemade vanilla on eGullet. however, it's an experiment that's new to me, so i've invested in vanilla beans - good quality, cheap beans from a seller on ebay (the graphics are terrible, but the beans are really good, and many other people on eGullet have bought them, so i feel ok about it), jars, and alcohol, and now i have five jars of vanilla extract, maturing in a box in my room.
i bought the jars on amazon, sight unseen, and it turns out that 1 3/4c jars are really quite large...requiring a large amount of alcohol to fill them. ah, well. that just means that i'll have a lot of vanilla extract to gift away in four months, which is the duration of this experiment. basically, the vanilla flavor leaches out into the alcohol, and you get vanilla extract that's closer to the flavor of real vanilla pods than the stuff you can buy in the store. i have five blends going, with variations in alcohol, bean type, and additional spices (star anise): bourbon beans/rum; bourbon beans/cognac+rum; tahitian + bourbon beans/cognac+rum; tahitian beans/vodka+rum; bourbon beans + star anise/rum. will keep you posted as time goes on.
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