Vanilla Extract, Good and Cheap
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Grind 1 lb of tonka bean fine and set aside.
In a pot, bring 1 gal of water and 4 lbs of sugar to a boil, then set the boiled sugar water aside.
Make the extract
In a stone jar, combine 1 oz of vanillin, 1 oz of cumerine, and 3 qts of alcohol.
Stir the mixture well and let sit for 1 hour.
Add 1 oz of burnt sugar and 1 pt of prune juice to the jar, and mix the added ingredients into the previous mixture.
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 main vanilla-like aroma and flavour in the extract.
- Alcohol
- Dissolves and extracts the flavour compounds from the solids over time.
- Vanillin
- Adds the characteristic vanilla aroma directly to the extract.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and body to the finished liquid.
The step that matters
Letting the mixture sit for 15 to 20 days. Flavour compounds are drawn out of the beans and solids slowly by alcohol, so rushing this rest leaves the extract weak and underdeveloped.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.