[Sca-cooks] Vanilla Extract --Thank you, and some answers.

[Carol Smith]

Hi again.  

Propylene glycol has been a permitted food ingredient longer than I've been in the industry; it's the ethylene glycol in antifreeze that's the killer.  Check your labels; propylene glycol is in a lot of foods and flavorings, not just vanilla.
As for aging vanilla, the original extraction takes about 10 days at a slightly elevated temperature (about 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit).  It should then be aged in charred oak casks, but is generally aged in stainless steel these days for proper sanitation.  The beans are removed after the 10-day percolation/maceration period, the alcohol tested, and the aging process then starts.  It's very similar to making good whiskey.  If you're doing the extraction at room temperature, I'd leave the bean in the alcoholic solution for another 5 days, but that's just a guess.  You may prefer to use either vodka or the everclear cut to 35% alcohol as closest to the regular vanilla, but using rum or brandy will provide other sweet notes you won't get in regular vanilla extract.  The vanilla flavor will mellow out over time, even without the oak cask, just as your cordials blend with sitting.

Regards,
Brekke
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Daniel Phelps<mailto:phelpsd at gate.net> 
  To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org<mailto:sca-cooks at ansteorra.org> 
  Sent: Friday, December 23, 2005 4:20 PM
  Subject: [Sca-cooks] Vanilla Extract --Thank you!


  Good Gentles of the Cooks list and elsewhere:
      Thank you so much for the replies on vanilla extract! I knew if I asked this group, I would get a truthful answer, in fact I got a plethora of them.  I will probably follow up one or more of the links and take a run at making my own vanilla extract, as well as ordering some already made. Daniel used to have some Mexican vanilla extract,(left from his time resident in Ansteorra) ( I believe it was 2X, and I still remember it fondly. And I've been wanting to try my hand at making vanilla sugar anyway. It's so simple, why not? How many of you have tried making your own extract? I remember two replies, one said age it for a year or two, the other said ten days. Does that mean that you would get an acceptable product in the shorter amount of time, but if you could put it up to age, you'd get a really great one? Do you have to take the vanilla bean(s) out, or can you leave them in the alcohol solution? Would it get bitter? Would rum, vodka, brandy, or Everclear (190 proof, 95% alcohol)cut to the proper strength work best? I can probably find a source of lab-grade distilled water if I want to try the last. Should I use a brown glass container, or a clear one kept in a dark place?(Easier to judge the concentration of the extract with a clear container, I should think) Ha. Every question answered leads to more... I remain, in most humble service,
  Lady Isabella de la Gryffin
  Barony of Oldenfeld
  Tallahassee, FL
  PS: My dear sweet observant lord husband found a brand of vanilla extract that contains no added sugar in the grocery store: it's the Badia brand, which is a company that makes spices, seasonings, flavorings, tea, etc. It was a buck cheaper for two ounces than the Publix store brand that contained corn syrup.  Badia is out of Miami, and you can find it in FLorida in places with a significant Hispanic population. He just brought it home today.  I haven't had a chance to use it yet. Not as many Badia products in Tally as we could find in West Palm Beach, but perhaps they can be found in Texas. FYI. .
  PPS: Propylene glycol?? Eeeww! Isn't that the stuff in antifreeze that will kill your dog if he drinks it? Or is that ethylene glycol? My half a semester of organic chemistry was some time back. I saw some vanilla with PGl at the local dollar store, and thought it a bit odd. Cheers, thank you all again, and have a happy and safe holiday season.

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