Prepare for Christmas in April: Create your own vanilla extract

I hope you all enjoyed the weather these past few days; we need rain, but it was nice to sleep with the windows open. This week we are doing an about face and talking Christmas. Don't turn the page just yet, we are going to explore the world of homemade vanilla and maybe some other extracts. We are talking vanilla because it will take six to nine months to make homemade vanilla. Once you make your own, you will never go back to buying it in the store. A year and a half ago, we took a cruise around the Hawaiian Islands and my goal for the trip was to explore the vanilla farms. Now Hawaii is the only U.S. state that can grow vanilla. The word vanilla derives from the Spanish word vaina, meaning sheath or pod, and translates as "little pod." In the tropical Mexican climate, the plant is naturally pollinated by the local Melipona bee. Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes is credited with bringing vanilla to Europe in the early 1500s, and it was used for flavoring chocolate. Vanilla came to Hawaii in the late 1880s. Vanilla is from the orchid family - vanilla planifolia grows outdoors up to 25 degrees north or south of the equator. A fleshy vine with aerial roots, vanilla likes to climb and in nature, reaches into the canopy of trees. Many vanilla farms use the cocoa trees to grow the plants. Now the plant blooms in April and the Melipona bee does not survive in Hawaii, so the farmers have to go out each morning and hand pollinate each bloom. They have six hours from the time the flower opens to the time the bloom closes to pollinate the bloom with a Q-tip. The beans grow for eight months, and then they are picked and dried for another three months - hence the reason one bean at the supermarket cost $9.99. I recommend you search Amazon for your best price on vanilla beans. The Hawaiian beans I bought cost $15 each, so you need to be careful what you do with them. Now, vanilla you buy in the store can be fake or it can also include water and sugar at the top of the ingredient list. So, you will need 1 ounce of beans for every 8 ounces of liquid, which is about 10 beans. You will also need alcohol. White Rum Tahitian Vanilla Ingredients 2 ounces of Tahitian vanilla beans 16 ounces Captain Morgan White Rum Directions Cut beans length-wise and place in a major jar and close the lid. Place in a dark cabinet. Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Ingredients 2.5 ounces of Madagascar vanilla beans 20 ounces of Buffalo Trace Bourbon Directions Cut beans in half length-wise and place in a mason jar. Vodka Vanilla Ingredients 2.5 ounces of vanilla beans (approximately 13 beans, which I sliced) 16 ounces of Grey Goose vodka. Directions Submerge them in the bottle enclosed. Mexican Vanilla Ingredients 2 ounces of vanilla bean, sliced 16 ounces of Tequila Orange Extract Ingredients 12 Navel oranges, peels (use a vegetable peeler to remove the rinds for the cleanest cut) Directions I use a mason jar with a wide mouth for easy access that also allows me to use a glass weight to press the orange rinds down to keep them submerged in the alcohol. Add to 8 ounces of Tito's Vodka. Leave the orange rinds in the vodka for one month, then remove from the mason jar and pour into a more decorative jar for everyday use.