Does the brand of vodka make a difference?

sacakes, I don't think so. But just with cooking and wine, if you wouldn't drink it, why use it? I figure if I'm going to put all that vanilla insomething, I'm going to get something decent. The first time I got Absolut, and the last couple times I got some Polish vodka....pretty bottle too.

This is a very interesting thread - I tried to make vanilla once. I followed the same directions outlined here but all I ended up with was vanilla-ish flavored vodka. Gross! Smelled only very faintly like vanilla, though it did turn dark in color. I even tried leaving it several more months after that. Still no good. Maybe it was the particular vanilla beans I had? I'm not sure what I did wrong, but it was horrible.

On another note, I have had great success with vanilla I purchased in Mexico (though I see now that I should reconsider) and even better success with a bottle I picked up in St. Thomas. This was THE BEST! and I have no idea how they did it. It was in a small glass bottle, it had the beans inside, it was thick (thicker than water/alcohol but not quite as thick as honey), and it didn't smell like alcohol at all. It took only a tiny bit to make an excellent flavor. I'd be very interested if anyone knew anything about this. (If it was bad for me, well, oops...but so far I am still alive).

Mine smells vodkish for a while too but it should. With the absence of corn syrups, thickeners, sugars, and whatever else manufactures put in to hide that smell.....well, there you go. I put a lot more than the extract recipes call for. I'm a "if it calls for this much, I'm going to put even more in" kind of gal with this stuff. If you're only using two or three beans from the supermarket, forget it, it isn't going to be as nice as it should be. Check the links again, and read some of the descriptions. You want plump, fat, oily beans that are bursting with seeds.

Thanks to both of you. I'll try vanilla paste and see what that's about. I'll also buy some better vanilla beans and give that a try again as well. I get what you're saying about the additives - makes perfect sense! The thing is, when I put that stuff in my frosting, I ended up with alcohol frosting as opposed to vanilla frosting. I've heard raves from people who make their own though, so I'm very inlined to believe that the beans I was using were of poor quality or that I didn't use enough of them.

Thanks for your help!

Has anyone used a vanilla powder form? like this one: http://www.vanillamart.co.uk/products/Premium-Grade-Madagascan-Vanilla-Powder.html

how would you use this in cake batter?

This is the vanilla paste I use. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001GE8N4Y/?tag=cakecentral-20

This large bottle of it makes the paste affordable.