The kitchen Corner

Well for a little while it seemed like summer had come early, the days were long and sunny, the heat was almost uncomfortable. But now we're back to blustery April weather, the bitter cold, soaking rain and (depending on where you live) snow. So our resident aspiring Betty Crocker, Chiara, has a recipe to share with us that will brighten your day and give you something to look forward to when the summer finally returns. It's a multi-purpose recipe. Not only practical for baking and cooking but also drinkable, delicious and will make your drawers smell divine!

Home Made Vanilla Essence

What you'll need - Vodka, vanilla pods, newspaper, cling film, a dark storage place and some patience.

For mine I used a 70cl bottle of smirnoff vodka - but any good brand will do, whatever your favourite one is.  I had easy access to vanilla pods because I work in a kitchen, but a handy thing is you can make a small amount using say a shoulder or naggin which would mean you wont need as many vanilla pods. 

Anyways back to the point! In the bottle I think I have around 20 pods in the bottle. They are all spent pods, so the insides have been scrapped and used for other purposes. 

Put your pods into the vodka and wrap it in the newspaper, then wrap it in clingfilm so the paper doesn't unravel and stick it in a dark cupboard or somewhere that very little light gets at. Though none at all would be even better for this. And well just leave it for 3 months, the longer you leave it the stronger it gets! The same can be said for the amount of pods you use.

Note - if you want to wait and collect a few pods while stocking up, keep them in a dark airtight container so the don't dry out. Usually I either wrap them in greaseproof or cling film and hide them in a drawer with my clothes, which gives them a light vanilla smell. 

Or - put them in a container with white sugar, so you can have vanilla sugar too, which is so much better for baking. 
There are so many uses!