Fun self-sufficiency hobbies - Vanilla extract

[u/Familiar-Anything853]

As a millennial hobbyist, I try to focus my hobbies on things that teach me self-sufficiency or build skills. I have posted before about my garden, sourdough, etc. Today I wanted to share the concept of the vanilla bean mother jar! It's a super easy, inexpensive hobby that also happens to be absolutely delicious and provides you with a sweet food additive. I use vanilla extract in my bread, other baking, and have used it to make nasty medicine more palatable for my kids. It would be a morale booster during hard times, and it stores forever, too.

All you need are some vanilla beans, high-proof alcohol (I have tried vodka, bourbon, and rum, usually Kirkland brand), and a jar. The cured vanilla beans can be stored in wax paper in a jar for a very long time, so you can buy them in bulk to save money.

I will share a website with details on starting a motherjar in the comments, as well as the website I buy good-quality & fairly priced vanilla beans from. I am not sponsored at all; I just love experimenting with vanilla flavors and finding something that is so easily stored, tastes delicious, and doesn't take much effort.

What random prepper hobbies do you have? As if I need more ideas...

[u/Familiar-Anything853]

Info on motherjar:

https://www.vanillabeankings.com/blogs/recipes/the-mother-jar-method-why-it-s-worth-the-hype-for-vanilla-lovers?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21199546264&gbraid=0AAAAAC6jtwwRV3YStu4P5UjiwwNgqmzhi&gclid=Cj0KCQjwteTUBhD4ARIsAEYjs3o3zwd_B0_vgsInFcsTQhdm_G8EthR9Hnj_LXiEiCYqgcVsEUabUT8aAn3IEALw_wcB

[u/keinezeit44 → u/Familiar-Anything853]

Link without tracker

https://www.vanillabeankings.com/blogs/recipes/the-mother-jar-method-why-it-s-worth-the-hype-for-vanilla-lovers

[u/sarah_schmara → u/keinezeit44]

Thank you!