Claire Saffitz Makes Homemade Vanilla Extract | Dessert Person

hey vinnie you're tall can you see if there's a lid up there you know i'm going to show how to make vanilla sugar also how about that yeah hey everyone i'm claire welcome to my home kitchen today's episode is all about my favorite ingredient vanilla so there were a lot of questions and comments under the videos asking about my homemade vanilla extract and other things about vanilla so today is going to focus on that we're not showing a recipe we're just talking all about vanilla a magical ingredient [Music] vanilla is let's say a recipe was a photo shoot it is like the perfect lighting and like the fan blowing the hair in the wind like it is just there to make every other thing sing and shine it is something that brings out the flavor of the other ingredients and adds it just adds a lot to a recipe and does a lot of like heavy lifting kind of in the background it's also a special ingredient because it is grown only in the tropics um i think 50 within 50 miles of the equator in either direction so it's a specialty ingredient people might wonder like oh you know vanilla is so expensive and overpriced and it's expensive for a reason it is a very intense process to grow it ferment it get it to the point where we can use it in recipes so i always encourage people to use real vanilla extract don't buy the imitation stuff it's just not worth it i'd rather not even put it in at all than use the imitation stuff because vanilla is an expensive ingredient i don't waste any part of it so i have extract that i buy but i also when i use a bean that's a special occasion and i use the seeds inside and the pot i don't throw any of it away and so i'm going to show you all the ways i use a whole vanilla bean [Music] for making your own vanilla extract you really want a jar with a tight fitting lid so something that seals airtight and watertight that's really the only piece of equipment you need besides a paring knife i have whole vanilla bean and vodka that's really all you need but what i like to do is give it like a little head start with vanilla extract from the store i use this kind of as like a starter to get it going you don't have to include that but it does sort of make it so that you can begin using your own extract right away one of my sisters was studying in tanzania for her phd and my family had the trip of a lifetime i went to visit her and we went to a spice farm in i think we were in i'll have to fact-check my family i think we were in zanzibar and we saw fresh vanilla growing on the vines and it's amazing they look like string beans so these pods when they're fresh are super bright green and then they harvest them and there's like a as a fermentation process where the beans are kind of like um packed and layered and then allowed to ferment and then they turn this color and i want to show you what they look like on the inside all right so a couple things i should say that these vanilla beans were a gift from a company called halala which is women run it it started in it was founded in new zealand and the vanilla beans that that company uses are from tonka and it's a wonderful company that invests in the community in which the beans are grown and we had the pleasure of learning from two of the ladies at hailala ruby and and jennifer and they gave me a tip for how you know a vanilla bean is fresh sometimes at the store the vanilla beans have been sitting for a long time and they're dried and hard that's not what you want you know vanilla bean is fresh when you can wrap it around your finger and it stays coiled you want something soft and juicy feeling it's a shame that vanilla has become kind of a synonym for things that are boring or bland because i think vanilla is one of the most incredible flavors that can be found in nature something like a vanilla ice cream with all the seeds in it is just like there's nothing better so i love the flavor of vanilla and in certain recipes i'll call for the seeds of the vanilla bean so i take a paring knife and the key is to cut through the skin of the pod but not through to the other side so i'm just making a slit in the bean lengthwise i'm going to open it up and flatten the bean and it's hard to see but inside this pod are these teeny teeny tiny black specks and these are the seeds of the vanilla bean so then taking the dull side of the knife and the flat side because this blade is curved you simply scrape along the bean to remove the seeds so i usually scrape i hold my finger along one end and then scrape away and apply a lot of pressure because we want to take out all the seeds and what we have on here is most of what's inside the bean i usually go back and do a second and third scrape to make sure i've gotten every last bit sometimes you get little threads like this kind of scrapes out i don't care i include it i don't take that out this vanilla bean you can add to things like cream cheese frosting into a cake batter into meringue um really into any kind of recipe but one thing you can do that is kind of special is to make vanilla sugar i would say one cup per one vanilla bean is a good ratio go ahead and scrape the seeds into the sugar and then i go back in and remove everything that i can now that i have all the seeds in here i use my fingertips to work all of that vanilla into the sugar and this releases a lot of the aromas of the vanilla and obviously distribu distributes it throughout the sugar so you can see the little tiny flecks of vanilla bean in the sugar over time the aroma and flavor of the vanilla will lessen so i would say it's better use it sooner rather than later but it won't go bad you don't have to refrigerate it vanilla sugar is great in any recipe chocolate chip cookie i mean anywhere where you would add vanilla extract i love vanilla in really creamy recipes that don't otherwise have a strong flavor to compete with it like so i wouldn't use it in a chocolate recipe but i would use it in a creme brulee or some kind of custard or pastry cream all of those are great even like in your if you were someone that takes your coffee sweet like even in you know stirred into your coffee or something like that i've never had savory vanilla in any way that i thought was good so i exclusively use it for sweet things i'm going to label it okay that's that now the question then is what do we do with the pod so you can also make vanilla sugar by just putting the pod into a container and covering it with granulated sugar however there's a lot of moisture in this vanilla bean and it tends to like the sugar also kind of absorbs the moisture and then it gets really clumpy so i prefer to use the pods to make my own vanilla extract [Music] so now we have these two empty vanilla pods yes the seeds are used in something else but the pods still have more to give these are not done and we want to use them so it's really the perfect opportunity to extract some of the flavors in the form of extract extract them into extract so so often i will cut them in half to make the size a little bit easier to work with and more easily submerged and then throw those into the bottom of a jar i'm not following any proportion here this is not there's no measurements to give and most vanilla extract that you buy in this store is alcohol-based so all of those flavor compounds are alcohol soluble so the alcohol is going to you know bring them out so for example the ingredients in here are water alcohol 35 sugar vanilla bean extra tips um often you do see a little bit of sugar added to extracts so to make my own extract i'm using a high proof alcohol i'm using vodka because i like that the flavor is basically neutral you could use rum ram is great like rum is an ingredient called for in a lot of recipes and comes from sugarcane so rum is great you could use i suppose like a brandy if you wanted to but any high proof alcohol i recommend vodka and i'm just pouring in enough to cover the beans this is all you have to do but you would have to wait a very very long time to begin to use this you know you want to basically let this sit covered sealed until you start to see the color leech out and you have a dark liquid but because i don't want to wait two years for that point if i'm starting my own extract i usually just cut it with actual vanilla extract from the store so pour this in we'll use like half the bottle and now you know within a couple weeks i can start using this and it has the same concentration as the store-bought stuff and i can also continue to top it off with more store-bought extract more vodka and continue to feed it with more and more beans as time goes on and it will never go bad it will not grow mold you don't have to refrigerate it leave it at room temp the combination of alcohol wasn't saying sugar but the high proof alcohol means it will never spoil and that's really it that's all you have to do so there's no precise measurements it's just about like i would say the number of beans you have to determine the amount of liquid and you really just want to pour in enough to cover the beans and that's it i've had this jar of homemade vanilla extract going for a few years maybe like two and a half and i don't usually let the liquid level get below this point so at this stage i have some beans that are out of the liquid so i top off with a little more vodka but because i don't want to dilute it too much i'll also throw in some store-bought extract there have been all sorts of like tests about can you ever really get the concentration of vanilla in a homemade extract versus store-bought and i think the consensus is no and that's why i cut it with store-bought vanilla it's not about trying to recreate the concentration of vanilla extract you get in the store it's about not wasting the beans and making the most of them is there ever a time where you kind of take out half of the beans no i've never taken out a bean i just leave them in there so you know there's no signs of spoilage there's no mold there's no off color or smells smells so good smells great so and that's really it basically this thing more is better more is more the longer it sits the better and it's just a great way to feel like you are getting your money's worth when you buy a vanilla bean that costs 10 bucks i'm not like an intense diy-er i don't feel like i have to take every last bit of every scrap in my kitchen and do something with it but in the case of vanilla it's such a special product and it's so pricey that i feel like i want to squeeze every last drop out of it that i can so i think it's worth it to start your own homemade vanilla extract and then it becomes a special part of your kitchen so it's fun to take a little break from making recipes from dessert person to go in depth about my favorite ingredient vanilla and it was also great to see so many people respond in the comments and asking questions about my homemade vanilla extract and how you can also do it at home so keep the questions coming we love being able to answer your questions and help you guys become better home bakers so thank you for watching and like and subscribe kitty come here here come here

Channel: Claire Saffitz x Dessert Person

Views: 540,111

Rating: 4.9617672 out of 5

Keywords: Claire Saffitz, Claire Saffitz Dessert Person, Claire Saffitz Makes Homemade Vanilla Extract, Claire Saffitz Makes, Bon Appetit, Gourmet Makes, Claire Bon Appetit, vanilla, vanilla beans, vanilla extract, how to make vanilla extract, homemade vanilla extract, vanilla extract recipe, how to make vanilla, Dessert, Dessert Person, Claire Makes, Best Vanilla, Vanilla Recipe, Extract Recipes, Easy Extract, Easy Extract Recipes, How To Make Vanilla Extract From Scratch, Vodka, sugar

Id: Ni1S-CF-ATk

Length: 12min 49sec (769 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 11 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/dpt4me]

Does anyone have good places to buy beans that aren’t $12 each? I’m skeptical buying from Amazon, eBay, etc which I’ve seen suggested.

[u/Chingachook]

"When my sister was in Tanzania getting her PhD. My family and I went to a spice farm in Zanzibar" sounds like a subplot in a Wes Anderson movie

[u/pheromonecvltx]

I’ve been doing this since Ina Garten did it on Food Network. I’m glad Claire is bringing back the vanilla bean to home kitchens!

[u/Haunting_Way_816]

Gotta appreciate how she and Vinny are taking the commenter feedback on board, not just to walk people through her vanilla set up but also to slightly diverge from the book content more generally. Switching up the content a bit makes it so much more enjoyable and it brings back the old feeling I had about BA videos were I would have excitement wondering what was coming next. I also loved the shout out to Heilala Vanilla, such a great little company.

[u/d0ndada]

I was ecstatic when she mentioned Heilala Vanilla. My mom is from Tonga. The one thing we always ask for from our family there is vanilla.

[u/Lokaji]

I bought some vanilla beans from Costco to do this. Her big jar is goals.

[u/ks1645]

I will never use vanilla as a derogatory term to describe blandness again. Thanks Claire!

[u/incruente]

I'm actually kind of surprised Brad didn't tackle this. I realize it's not a fermentation, but neither is black garlic; the "long term" nature seems like it would appeal to him. My sister and I went in on 2 pounds of vanilla beans several years ago, and we're still using the resultant extract. I've also made lime, lemon, orange, raspberry, and banana.

[u/VesperJDR]

Step one: buy vanilla extract. I get the point - just still made me chuckle.