r/Cooking • u/Deedoodleday • 1d ago

Homemade vanilla bean paste

I will be making some vanilla bean paste this week. I have a couple of questions for anyone who has made it before.

  1. Should I add xanthan gum to thicken it?

  2. Bourbon or vodka for the alcohol? Not a big fan of rum so that's out.

Thanks in advance for any help.

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2

u/SamuraiMarine 1d ago

Not sure about the gum, never used it before or made paste before. But when I make Vanilla extract, I always use vodka. It has no flavor, so it assumes all the vanilla flavor. Just put it in the closet, in the dark, for about a year before using.

2

u/monkey_trumpets 12h ago

How long does it keep? What amount do you make?

2

u/JinyoungMenanno 1d ago

Made a batch back in the spring, 8 beans split and scraped into about a cup of vodka. Skipped the xanthan gum and honestly never missed it since the seeds and pod bits give it plenty of body. Vodka keeps the flavor neutral so the vanilla actually comes through, bourbon tends to fight with it unless you want that barrel note. Only thing I'd change is letting it sit a full 8 weeks before judging it, mine tasted weak at 3 and then really came around.

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u/bobdevnul 23h ago

Vodka or bourbon doesn't matter. The intense flavor of vanilla will completely overwhelm any minor flavor of bourbon.

There is also no point in using premium liquor. Any subtle premium flavor in the liquor will also be completely overwhelmed by the intense flavor of vanilla.

1

u/Deedoodleday 1d ago

It's going to be Tito's for vodka or Maker's for bourbon.

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u/tchansen 1d ago

I haven't made vanilla bean paste yet but when I make limoncello I use my sous vide to cut the 30 days to about 4 hours with no loss of quality.

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u/ked_man 1d ago

If you’re going to use vodka and don’t like rum, be aware that a lot of cheap vodka is actually made with rum.

Vodka isn’t made with potatoes unless it specifically says that on the bottle. In the US the base spirit can be any number of things, including sugar cane as long as it is distilled above 190 proof before filtering and watering down to bottle proof.

A lot of vodkas in the US are made with corn, but some are wheat, some are sugar cane. And you can’t tell from the bottle for the most part.

Bourbon however, has strict regulations on what it is made with and what it can be mixed with before bottling. So anything that says “Straight Bourbon” on the bottle is guaranteed to be 100% grain based.