Make an investment of $30 with a 1.75 liter of vodka and a dozen or so vanilla beans, too. Slice the beans lengthwise and drop them into the bottle. Come back in a few months and you have vanilla extract. Have you seen the price of just McCormick’s? Whew, $5.11 a teeny weeny little 1 oz. This just saved over $270.
Recycle small condiment bottles like soy sauce, etc. Fill with your cottage crafted artisan (eye roll) vanilla extract and tie a bow around for stocking stuffers. You could try using the beans again in a smaller amount of liquor of your choice. Next, scrape the seeds into a batch of ice cream. Finally, let the beans dry naturally and toss them into sugar to make vanilla sugar and package it up for more gifts. Mold the sugar in small candy molds for a bit extra zing.
Great reminder! I’ve done all of that before, too. Everyone who bakes loves homemade vanilla extract. ;)
When I lived in Imperial Beach, CA (1980-’82; Navy Wife, Another Life!) the next town was Tijuana, Mexico. Whenever family or friends from the Midwest came to visit, we’d make a ‘Vanilla Run’ to Mexico - it was so dang cheap and really good quality.