I have not made vanilla extract in over 17 years and totally miss the difference this rich addition to my pantry makes. Baking, coffee drinks and cocktails come to mind initially when thinking of recipes.
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| The oldest daughter found a cool little book, pictured above, at the town book sale- when Larissa volunteered to our library, gifting it to ME of course :) David P. Butts, lol :) |
Keeping your own creations on hand really enhances the cooking/baking experience. Fresh ground Old Bay Seasoning, Curry spice blends, Chai whole spices, chili powder and even spicy ketchup are wonderful to pull out cooking something special for friends and family.
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Fair Trade Certified Bourbon vanilla beans, grown in Madagascar, purchased from Frontier Cooperative Herbs in Norway, Iowa were used. Frontier has been on my radar ever since owning an herb/garden shop in the 90's buying bulk items. Lavender, rose buds, whole/ground spices, different mustard flours, seeds and bulk teas just to name a few. Retail treasures for the shoppe included mortar and pestles, pepper-mills, tea pots, coffee presses and other botanical awesomeness from this great source. |
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| a split vanilla bean, with all those beautiful pasty seeds, waiting to be scraped |
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| so many seeds! |
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| scraped pods and seeds infusing in white rum are housed now in this fab Absolute Vodka Wild Tea bottle |
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after only 4 days of cold steeping
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*Shake every few days while infusing
*Topping off with more liquor is the next step when the level starts to go down from being used in cooking. After a couple times of this the color is going to get lighter, just take a few beans out and replace with new.
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The Wild Tea Absolute was super I must say. Lovely libation HERE for Absolute Ginger Tea with Wild Tea- enjoy!
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| camping strip with the 1971 Shasta Compact, Red Bridge @ Kinzua 2011 |
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