On 2014-04-24 9:03 AM, Steve Freides wrote:

> I'm not sure how you're using "essence" here - how's that different from
> an "extract", which is what I think we created by soaking the beans in
> bourbon - the bourbon is what I use as a replacement for store-bought
> vanilla extract.
>

I had assumed that the "essence" is the same as extract.... soaking the
beans in alcohol.

I wish I had had the sense to do that when my nephew and his wife
brought us a bug bundle of vanilla beans when they came back from a
couple years living in Uganda. I didn't have much use for vanilla beans
back then and by the time I got around to using them the texture was
more like cinnamon sticks. If I had done it back then, about 15 years
ago, I would probably still have lots of extract left.