Vanilla Extract, Good and Cheap
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tonka bean
Grind 1 lb of tonka bean fine.
Mix the ground tonka bean with 1 qt of glycerine. Set aside.
Make the sugar water
Combine 1 gal of water and 4 lbs of sugar in a pot and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat.
Combine and age
In a stone jar, mix 1 oz of vanillin, 1 oz of coumarin, and 3 qts of alcohol. Stir well and let sit for 1 hour.
Add burnt sugar and prune juice to the mixture.
Combine with the cooled sugar water.
Let the mixture sit for 15 to 20 days before using.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Tonka bean
- Provides the primary vanilla-like aroma and flavor through its natural compounds.
- Vanillin
- Supplies the characteristic vanilla aroma directly.
- Alcohol
- Extracts and dissolves the flavor compounds from the solids and preserves the mixture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and body to the sugar water base.
- Glycerine
- Holds moisture and keeps the extract smooth and from drying out.
The step that matters
Letting the mixture sit for 15 to 20 days. Flavor compounds from the tonka bean and vanillin need time to extract and blend into the alcohol. Using the extract too early gives a harsh, unintegrated taste.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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