I saw a Vanilla Extract "kit" in a store 2-3 months ago. All it was, was a clear bottle with 2 Vanilla Beans in it.
The intructions stated that all you had to do was to add alcohol, (Vodka ) and in 2 months you would have Extract.
Since the instructions were so easy I decided to buy an empty bottle, ($1.99) and I already had Beans at home that I bought Wholesale online.
I threw 3-4 split Beans in the Bottle and filled it 3/4 of the way with Vodka. Every 2-3 days I would shake the bottle up. It was stored in our Pantry for almost 3months.
It's got a brownish color to it and I havent tried to use it yet. If this procedure is correct, it would be worth to make it on your own. Beans can be bought for pennies online and Store bought Extract is expensive.
This is how I make extract. I'm in the process of setting up another bath now. It works great.
you can also keep adding more vodka once you start using to keep it topped up you can do this till you find that the beans are not strong enough to flavour the extra vodka. This is great if you dont use it that often like hobby bakers who may only use a tsp or 2 at a time.
Dragonwarlord was the first one to post a recipe on CC and this is the one I followed. here is a link to his post (none of it lost!!) I have followed this method and love the results.
HTH
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-663-vanilla.html+vodka
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