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Make Your Own Vanilla Honey

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March 30, 2015 by Homestead Lady 6 Comments

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! spoon of vanilla honey

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. 

vanilla honey in a bottle

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.

spoon of vanilla honey

Homemade Vanilla Honey

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Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 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.

    The Family on the Homestead l The Do It Yourself Homestead praise from Stacy Lynn Harris

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    Filed Under: Healthy Recipes Tagged With: Bees, Gluten Free, Healthy Treat, Homemade, Kid Cooking, Make it Yourself

    Products

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Kathie says

      March 30, 2015 at 9:25 am

      Yum! Thanks for including my nectarine butter recipe.

      Reply
      • Homestead Lady says

        March 30, 2015 at 10:47 am

        Thank you for creating the recipe – it made me drool in a very unladylike way.

        Reply
    2. Kris @ Attainable Sustainable says

      April 6, 2015 at 11:49 am

      Thanks for linking to my DIY vanilla! And now I must make this. 😉

      Reply
      • Homestead Lady says

        April 6, 2015 at 2:37 pm

        My pleasure! Like you really needed something else to do, right? At last I can promise it will be worth it. The kids and I just made some forsythia jelly this weekend and we used our vanilla honey to sweeten it. Holy cow! I need to try it in ice cream…

        Reply
    3. Wendy says

      July 16, 2021 at 11:52 am

      I would like to make my own artificial honey flavor for baking. Like honey essence… Instead of vanilla essence (Or extract) Any ideas?

      Reply
      • Homestead Lady says

        July 16, 2021 at 10:00 pm

        Thanks for stopping by, Wendy! Is there a reason why you wouldn’t just use honey in your recipes? It’s not exactly a one to one ratio for sugar substitution but it can be close. There are several cookbooks dedicated to baking with honey which might be helpful – I own one or two and find them to be.

        Otherwise, you could always dehydrate honey in order to use it in powdered form. You can use your dehydrator or an oven on its lowest setting. You’ll need to keep a close eye on it to prevent burning if you use an oven, FYI.

        Reply

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