Homemade Vanilla Extract

I've had my jar of vanilla extract going for 20 years. Over time, the vanilla builds flavor becoming richer than what you can buy. Ina Garten has had her batch going for about 40 years. The type (s) of vanilla beans you use it up to you, you can make your extract with a single variety or a blend of different vanilla beans. I like a mix of Madagascar, Ugandan, and Tahitian beans. You can substitute bourbon for the vodka, you don't have to use top shelf alcohol because some of the nuances will get lost, but do not use the cheap stuff, the quality will come through. INGREDIENTS 8 vanilla beans 8 ounces of vodka DIRECTIONS Place vanilla beans vertically in an 8 ounce wide-mouth glass jar. Pour vodka over the vanilla beans and seal jar. Store in a cool, dark place, like your pantry or cupboard. Shake jar once a week for 3 months. It should be ready to use. Top the jar off with more vodka to cover the beans. Enjoy! Notes: If you want to make something with vanilla seeds in it, snip off the end of one of the extract vanilla beans from the jar and you can squeeze it out like toothpaste. You can return the squeezed bean to the jar because it still has flavor to give to the extract. I cut my squeezed beans in half so I can tell them apart from my whole beans. You can also use one of your beans from the extract in a recipe that calls for a whole bean, but if you steep the bean in anything do not return it to your extract or you will contaminate it. You can use a higher bean to vodka ratio. Over the years your vanilla extract will increased in strength, use it to taste. Every summer I strain out my jar of extract, remove the halved vanilla beans, then put the whole beans and extract back into the jar with some new beans, and top it off with more vodka so it will be ready in time for fall baking. The halved beans you remove can be dried out and used as potpourri.