Grey Goose and vanilla beans

(repost from April 4, 2009)

"even the plastic bags smell de-vine"

I couldn’t throw away the plastic storage bags in which the vanilla beans were shipped. They smelled sooooo goood. I kept them in the utility room for a week, enjoying the lingering aroma.

I split about 15 Vanilla Beans (Planifolia) [purchased from www.saffron.com] & about 5 tahitian vanilla beans. Then I added a bottle of double strength Nielsen-Massey vanilla, and filled the quart fruit jar with Grey Goose Vodka. NOW, THAT’S A RECIPE!

The jar of vanilla is brewing in the back of my cabinet. Every day or so, I take it out, shake it a little, wonder what is happening on the inside, and return it to it’s aging place in the cabinet. This project began March 7. I’ll open it on May 7th to see what I have created.

*********************** *********************** *********************

fast-forward six months:

I need to buy more Grey Goose! The vanilla beans need alcohol to continue to produce this liquor (the liquid from which a substance has been extracted - from Apple dictionary widget)

I have about $60 invested in this quart of vanilla liquor/extract.

Nielsen-Massey is about $19 per 8 fl. oz. at Williams Sonoma. Though there is a little savings in money, it's not as much about the money as about the experience of watching this process unfold.