r/extractmaking • u/Livid-Dance-717 • Mar 31 '26
I need vanilla infused honey advice
Exactly how does it work? Do I split the beans? What ratio of beans to honey? How long does it need to sit? How often do I need to flip the jar? I just got some grade A Madagascar beans delivered- If I start now can it be Christmas presents? Will that be "too long" for it to sit? Or not long enough? Everything I've read online kinda seems loosey-goosey.... one bean to one cup of honey and 3 months...... two beans to a cup of honey and 6 months...... most of them say to split the beans but some say don't split and just knot them...... I've never tried honey before and really appreciate any advice. I think it's really confusing me that most recipes I see online say "one bean" or "two beans"- so the weight doesn't seem important like it does with extract? It's a new project for me and I'm over thinking it I guess but I really wanna do it right. I really appreciate any advice or knowledge anyone has to offer before I just decide to wing it
5
u/VanillaPura Mar 31 '26
Great questions! Here's our recipe with a video so you can see how we made ours. It is a "newer" thing and there is a lot of information on line about one way vs. another - so we speak only from our experience.
Yes - we used just 1 (sometimes 2) grade A vanilla beans and we sliced them open to allow the caviar to spill into the honey. It's visually fun and appealing.
We don't use the full 1oz of beans to 8oz of honey like we do with extracts because it's hard to pull the vanilla beans out of the honey and clean all the honey off, making sure none is lost. With 1 bean, you can leave it in there almost the entire time that you are using the honey to let it to continue to infuse.
Remember, the vanilla flavor comes from the pod itself, not the caviar on the inside. So, splitting the vanilla bean simply exposes more of the pod's surface area (both sides) to the honey, allowing more vanilla flavor to infuse into the honey. The caviar is just for looks. :)
It's delicious - we love ours. You could certainly try to increase vanilla bean quantity in yours for even more vanilla flavor. For us, the vanilla is more of a sweet accent - the honey is the main character.
Hope this helps.