Why I Oughta...

Look at what just arrived via USPS Mailman on our frontdoor?!?  Two and a half pounds of extract-grade vanilla beans.  Yes..that's what is in that photo below.  Kind of strange looking, but they're oh-so-sweet smelling. I'm about a month behind my schedule from last year so I have to get going fast.  With school ending this week, it shouldn't be difficult to get my nieces and nephews over here to slice and scrape beans and get production ramped up.  There's nothing quite like under-aged, low-priced labor is there?   After that, all it takes is a mere six months of steeping and we should be in great shape for the holidays.

Last year, I brewed a small batch of vanilla extract and gave it away at Christmas to friends and family.  It was a hit!  This year, I planned ahead and worked with my nieces and nephews and made a HUGE batch of the stuff.  By HUGE, I mean 5 gallons.  Seriously.  Now....don't be alarmed.  Each of my 3 sets of nieces/nephews are taking one gallon each.  They're giving them away as gifts to their teachers and their moms are giving some away, too.  But the other two gallons?  That'll be easy to give away as gifts.  There's 128 ounces in a gallon and I bought 8 ounce bottles.  The bottles!  The best part!  Last year, we went to container store and bought 8 ounce swivel-top bottles that were super expensive - like $6 a piece.  This year, I shopped ahead and bought them from Specialty Bottles and went with the 8 oz Clear Boston Round.  Because of the volume I bought, the cost per bottle came in under $1.00 a piece.  And that included caps and....the neat part:  shrink bands