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Extract of Vanilla

A homemade vanilla extract made by infusing vanilla beans in water and alcohol.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,293 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Extract of Vanilla

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beans

  1. Slit the vanilla beans from end to end with a penknife.

  2. Cut the beans crosswise as fine as possible with sharp shears.

  3. Place the cut beans into a 2-quart bottle.

Infuse

  1. Add water and alcohol to the bottle.

  2. Cork the bottle tightly and keep it in a moderately warm place.

  3. Shake the contents occasionally and allow to infuse for several weeks, preferably several months.

  4. If desired, add up to 1 ounce of Tonka bean for extra flavor.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Vanilla + beanstop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,293 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Vanilla + spirittop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together53 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Beans + spirittop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Vanilla beans
Provide the primary vanilla flavor, which is released as the beans steep in the liquid.
Proof alcohol or neutral spirits
Extracts the flavor compounds from the beans and preserves the finished extract.
Water
Helps draw out water-soluble flavor compounds from the beans alongside the alcohol.

The step that matters

Cutting the beans finely. Finer cuts expose more of the bean's interior surface, so flavor compounds dissolve into the liquid faster and more completely during infusion.

Swap the beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vanilla, spirit):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Beansthe original
  4. Walnutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against vanilla, spirit. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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