I was wondering how important, do you feel, is it to include the caviar in the extract? Are the flavor compounds in the bean spread evenly across the caviar and the flesh?

I appreciate the work you’ve put into your very informative site.

Thanks for the recipe and the research behind it!

@Ian and Chef:
You know plastic e.g. PET is not gas-proof whereas glas is?
So I’d suggest using glas bottles to be sure nothing happens to your extract.
You never know which flavors diffuse out of your extract if you use plastic.
(Maybe you’ll like the result better, but then again who knows?)

Using dark glas bottles like mentioned in the recipe above probably is the best idea since they are gas-proof and offer some light protection.

Greetings

1) I heard using grain alcohol & watering it down produces a cloudier extract? Has anyone found this to be true.

2) I have also found a grape alcohol (190 proof) – has anybody tried this instead?

3) Plastic vs. glass – does it make a difference? (both in extracting AND in the final bottle)

In case people want to gift 2oz bottles of this stuff (the “normal” sized bottle at the grocery store is 2oz), I highly recommend Sunburst Bottle Company (http://www.sunburstbottle.com).

They have amber or blue glass bottles and you can buy as few or as many as you need. For the 2oz bottles, you could even buy just one if you wanted, and the prices are extremely fair.

I was contemplating using rum for the extract since some good quality (for sure not with coumarin) vanilla extract I had purchased from Mexico used rum.
Do you use dark rum or a clear rum for this? Does it matter?

I wonder if you have ever tried to remove the alcohol, to make something approaching vanilla absolute (I need this for soap making which works better without the alcohol, and the commercial product is SO expensive!). When I boil off the alcohol from the extract, the residue has very little fragrance. I assume the fragrance is quite volative and comes out with the boiling ?

Peter

Great tutorial! I started a batch of vanilla extract 2 days ago and now notice a white film on the top of the extract. I am using a brand new bottle of vodka (40% abv) and the beans were fresh. Any ideas what this might be? Should I be concerned?

Thanks!

S.Vanorse

I’m not sure that’s true. 99% of vanilla vendors ship their beans vacuum packed. According to Amadeus Vanilla, vacuum packed beans will last for years, and be good enough to extract practically forever.

E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. That’s saying alot as a cooking research fanatic.

How can the vanilla beans that aren’t extracted be stored and for how long?

Alright. I got the vodka (and some rum too), I got the beans. And now for the bottles. What to use? I found some Red Bull bottles that look kinda nice and would yield 1/2-cup batches of extract – perfect for gifts. But the cap still smells like Red Bull – what to do? I tried vinegar, I tried baking soda – but I can still smell it. I’m working with a bleach/water solution now.

If you use a cork, does it retain the wine flavor/scent? Or do you order corks from some supplier somewhere?

(BTW, I’m in Malaysia so I can’t get EVERYTHING you can get in the States.)