Make Your Own Vanilla Honey

Need something to do with the vanilla beans you’ve used to make extract? Don’t throw them away; make your own vanilla honey instead!

Homemade Extracts and Such

Learning to brew your own vanilla, or any tinctured baking extract, is a great skill to have.

1. Here’s how to make your own vanilla? 
2. Or here’s a non-alcoholic homemade vanilla, if you prefer. 

Homemade Vanilla Honey

This is a simple recipe that anyone can make with fresh or even used vanilla beans. It tastes delicious in hot oatmeal, as a sugar substitute in peanut butter cookies, and even dolloped into your morning tea. There are a lot more ideas for using your homemade vanilla honey down below the recipe.

Homemade Vanilla Honey

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Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 6

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 2-3 Vanilla beans

1 quart Raw honey

Instructions

 

• Gather one quart of raw honey and three to six used vanilla beans from your home brewed vanilla.  These beans will be smooshy and full of extract - they're perfect.  You may also use fresh vanilla beans - start with two*.
• Open the vanilla beans and scrape out any remaining seeds - they look like tiny, tiny black bugs.
• Add the seeds and beans (and any remaining vanilla extract from previously used beans) to the quart of honey.
• Let this concoction sit for at least a month and if you decide it needs more vanilla flavor/smell, just add a judicious amount of your homemade vanilla and mix well.  You don't want to water down the honey - just give it an extra vanilla boost if you don't feel it's not strong enough.  I like mine to brew no less than two months, but longer is better!

Notes

*You can also you fresh vanilla beans, I suggest starting with two since the flavor will be stronger.  If you're using fresh, cut them open and scrape out the seeds, as well.  "Fresh" is actually a misnomer as vanilla beans undergo some processing; I just mean beans you haven't used to make extract already. 

This isn't a necessary item in your baking cupboard but it sure is a decadent and happy thing to have on hand.  If you're already making vanilla and using raw honey, it won't cost you anything extra to brew a few batches for yourself and friends.  Besides, raw honey is our medicine of choice so we figure we save money to purchase it by not visiting the doctor.

Keyword raw honey, vanilla

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Other Extracts and Infusions

Remember, you can make any of these extracts with glycerin instead of liquor,  if you prefer. Want peppermint, lemon and other extracts like stevia, too? Follow those links!

Just for fun, here’s how to make chocolate extract!

There are also other infused honey recipes you can make. From Holistic Health Herbalist, here’s how to make Rose Petal Infused Honey. Or, from Grow, Forage, Cook, Ferment here’s how to make Lilac Infused Honey.

Oooh, and for the holidays or Valentine’s Day, try this Cinnamon Infused Honey from The Artisan Life.

FYI, any of these ideas would make the perfect holiday – or any day – gift!

So Easy Kids Can Do It

By the way, this is a great kitchen project for kids. You can teach them about the benefits of raw honey, healthy treats and learning to do things yourself. Practical skills like cutting practice and learning to clean up after kitchen projects can also take place. What starts out a chore can become a fun project. The most important ingredient of any recipe is fun – grab a kid and have some FUN!

Some ideas for using your vanilla honey:

• Pancake topping
• Use it to make this slow cooker Honey Cinnamon Applesause
• Whipped with grass fed butter and put on toast
• Take a teaspoon for a scratchy throat or oncoming cold
• Over hot oatmeal or any hot grain cereal
• Added to homemade ice cream instead of sugar
• Use it to sweeten homemade hot chocolate
• Add to homemade cough syrups and drops to improve flavor and effectiveness
• A great gift for friends or people you would like to make your friends
• Let it inspire you to keep bees this year!

Learn More!

For more tutorials and ideas on how to make your own kitchen items, be sure to read the Make Your Own Stuffs section of our book, here . Don’t have your own copy? Click here to check it out. With over 400 pages of homesteading information and how-to’s, there’s bound to be something that will intrigue you! For a free sample of the Make Your Own Stuffs section, just email me at Tessa@homesteadlady.com.