Peppermint keeps growing and bushes out as it's trimmed... smells SO good!

Have you priced vanilla extract lately? Ridiculous!

I prefer to use real vanilla extract rather than the less expensive imitation vanilla flavoring, especially when I found out that imitation vanilla is made from the waste product of paper mills... Ewwww!!!

I also hate paying $5 or more for a tiny bottle of vanilla extract, hence the search for a way to make it myself.

It's super easy... here's what I did...

Ingredients:
4 or 5 vanilla beans
1 cup vodka

Split the vanilla beans in half (no need to scrape out the seeds, just split them in half) and cut them into pieces that will easily fit into the half-pint canning jar.

Vanilla Beans

Using a clean, sterilized half-pint canning jar (if you wash it in a dishwasher that gets super hot, that will do fine, otherwise boil the jar for 10 minutes or so) and clean, sterilized lids and rings (simmer them for 10 minutes or so and keep hot)... simply put the vanilla beans into the jar and add vodka to about a half inch from the jar rim. Put the lid on and tighten it, (no need to heat the ingredients or seal the jars) then give the jar a little shake and

Voila!!!! Vanilla Extract!

Store the extract in a cool, dark place, giving the jar a shake every day for about six weeks... you will notice the color begin to darken to amber as the days pass... this is what you want to happen.

After six weeks (give or take) the extract is usable... you may or may not choose to strain out the vanilla beans, the extract will continue to strengthen if the beans stay in and that's a good thing.
If stored in a cool, dark place, the extract will keep pretty much indefinitely.

Vanilla Extract a few hours after adding the vodka... it's already starting to get that golden amber color... should darken more with age. Canning Granny©2011 All Rights Reserved

Extracts are easier than I could ever have imagined to make... why on earth have I been paying so much for those tiny little one ounce bottles of lemon or orange extract when I could have been making my own?

I didn't know!

I started reading and searching and found a few super simple recipes for extracts.

Here's how I did it...

First, wash half pint canning jars and sterilize them by either boiling them in water or if your dishwasher gets as hot as mine does, just wash them up in it and keep them hot. Simmer jar lids and rings in water for 10 minutes or so. You always want to start out with clean, sterilized jars and lids.

The ingredients for extracts are pretty simple...
For lemon, I used
2 lemons
1 cup vodka

For orange
1 orange
1 cup vodka

To prepare...
Use a vegetable peeler and peel the fruit (just the colored part, try not to get any of the bitter white part of the peel)

Peel two lemons

Peel one orange

Place the peelings in a half-pint canning jar (you won't fill the jar or pack tightly, just put them in the jar).

Then fill the jar with vodka up to about a half inch from the rim.

Tighten the lid on and give the jar a shake.

There's no need to heat or seal the jars, just keep the lid on so the liquid doesn't evaporate.




Store the jars in a cool, dark place, giving them a shake once a day. You will have lemon or orange extract in about six weeks. After six weeks or so, you can strain the fruit peel pieces from the liquid and discard... but you don't have to... it will continue to strengthen the longer it sits. The extract will last pretty much indefinitely, especially if it's stored in a cool, dark place.

Add vodka, filling to within about a half inch of the rim.

Orange and Lemon Extract