Vanilla Extract
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beans
Soak the tonka bean in warm water until the skin can be rubbed off.
Cut or chop the tonka bean into small pieces.
Place the chopped tonka and vanilla beans in two wine bottles.
Infuse
Fill each bottle with half alcohol and half water.
Cork and seal the bottles.
Let the mixture sit for a week 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
- Vanilla bean
- Provides the main vanilla flavour and aroma that the extract carries.
- Tonka bean
- Adds a sweet, warm aroma that deepens the vanilla flavour.
- Alcohol
- Extracts flavour compounds from the beans and preserves the liquid.
The step that matters
Sealing and resting the bottles. Flavour compounds dissolve slowly into the alcohol and water mix. A tight seal keeps the alcohol from evaporating, and the full week of rest lets the extraction develop.
“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
Vegetable Soup350 recipes
Raspberry Vinegar214 recipes
Brown Coffee with Egg175 recipes
Blackberry Cordial129 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.