Homemade Vanilla Extract Photos I had promised

   Here are the photos from the beginnings of my first batch of vanilla.  I made 2 half gallons with vodka.  One of the half gallons I cut the beans in half, the other half gallon I cut them and scraped some of the 'caviar' out of the beans and added it to the vodka.  The smaller jar is a batch of vanilla made with Paul Mason VSOP brandy.  It is simply yummy smelling now.  I will post photos in a few days of the extract and how it looks now.

This is what a jar of vodka with vanilla beans looks like on the first day.

These are the vacuum sealed beans I bought from Olive Nation.  Love their prices.

See, I used the really cheap vodka like everyone suggested.

These are the two half gallons of vanilla in vodka.  The one on the left is the jar withOUT the 'caviar' being scraped .  

 These jars here had only been in my cabinet sitting for 3 days and you can already tell a marked difference in the colors of the liquors.  There is a slight difference in darkness between the jar on the left that was not scraped and the one on the right that was made from partially scraped beans.

vanilla extract made with brandy

This is the jar of Paul Mason VSOP brandy vanilla extract. (after 3 days, as well)   It is much darker than the vodka, obviously, because it started with a darker liquor.  It has a much nicer smell, in my opinion. But they both have a nice vanilla aroma.