Back to Basics. Vanilla Sugar.
I am saying this is a basic yet I have never made it before! BUT it is very basic to make and I love all things vanilla.
When I went to buy vanilla pods, and found they were $7.50 each in our supermarket, I went online and bought a big batch. They came in at under $1.40 each. They were so much bigger and plumper than the expensive ones. So suddenly I could do more bean projects toward my Christmas gift hampers.
These are going to have tie on tags for labels. One side will just say Vanilla Sugar. The other side will have ways to use it which are in your coffee, to top cakes, muffins and other baking, to include in homemade custards, to sprinkle on pancakes...
In the store they sell it like this...
While I waited for the beans to arrive I found some squat jars that I thought looked suitable and painted the lids which were ugly. I just used some left over house paint from the shed... it is only on the outside of the lid. It took three coats.
The method is very simple. You split open a vanilla bean lengthwise and run your spoon down to get inside and get seeds out...
The ratio is the seeds from one bean to two cups of white sugar. I blended it in the food processor.
The bean that is left still had masses of goodness and these went into my Vanilla Extract which I will show next week. Also easier than falling off a log, useful, delicious, a great gift for any cook!
This all made my kitchen smell heavenly.
The website I purchased the beans from is Nuts about Life, Australia. I bought Grade B beans. They delivered very fast and I am thrilled with the quality. But looking online there are so many places to buy them that I am sure you will have no trouble. It is just shocking the supermarket had such low quality for such high prices. Basically supermarkets made us all think they were the cheapest and easiest way to get everything... until we reached this point where that is just far from true.
Today I was in a small country supermarket. I snooped. I took photos of things for ideas plus the prices... I noticed all kinds of syrups, toppings, essences.... that I am going to try and find recipes for. These things are all expensive! Knowing what family and friends love is very handy. I will be making fruit cakes but small ones and in early December. I am glad to add to my pantry and gifts. If you have anything that you make that can be made about now ready for Christmas please chime in! The more we get ahead the better! xxx
the vanilla sugar sounds so good. i may try it too. sometimes i put a cookie mix together in a jar in layers ( dry ingredients only) and the instructions on a tag. the more ingredients and add ins the prettier it looks. also salsas, soups (dry or prepared) are a good gift. made french onion soup and veggie soup this week and some will be used for christmas baskets. also christmas jams and pickles and cowboy candy for those who like the hot stuff. i have recipes for these things if anyone would like. have fun. bonnie in southern pa.
ReplyDeleteI used the beans leftover from making vanilla extract one year. After removing them from the extract I added them to a large canister of sugar. It was nice to get 2 uses out of them!
ReplyDeleteRural Kathleen
Thanks for letting us know where you ordered the vanilla beans from 👍🏼 From Cheryl 🪺
ReplyDeleteHi Annabel
ReplyDeleteAnything made with vanilla is yummy, I have given homemade vanilla essence in the past which was very well received.
Other gifts I am making or have made this year already are lavender sachets, pretty jars filled with mini Easter eggs or chocolates with match striker paper on the bottom so they can store matches when the chocs are finished. I have also given the jar filled with matches already to someone with a woodburner. So quick and easy.
At Christmas I often give pots I have planted up with bulbs. It is easy to buy potted hyacinths and sometimes daffodils but I prefer to pot up my own using more unusual bulbs which people can't buy ready potted.
We are able to buy bulbs at wholesale prices and they're really good quality but it could still be done with careful buying from retail outlets/ catalogues. This year I have ordered 100 Iris reticulata 'Rejoice' , 100 tulips 'Apricona' and 100 tulip ' Salmon Van Eijk'. I will split the bags up and buy the right sized pots at a garden centre that always has deals on pots. I will get 8 gifts from the iris and 5 gifts from the Apricona tulips. These are for nearby friends and family so I will pot them up. We are going to a family gathering at the beginning of October so I will bag up the other tulips in pretty bags with planting instructions and put them in a pot but no compost and these will be Christmas presents for distant family who can take them home in their cars.
This might seem like its expensive but for example the iris cost £16 for 100 bulbs so 8 gifts will cost £2 for the bulbs and less than £2 for a small pot and compost ( we buy compost in bulk too!). The tulips will come in well under the budget I've set for those presents.
Sorry this is a lengthy comment but it might give Bluebirds some ideas.
Penny in the UK.
That is going to be so delicious! I'd like to make a batch and use in my breakfast oatmeal.
ReplyDeleteI always struggle to find gifts for my co-workers. There are only five of us in my department and we don't give each other very expensive gifts but even inexpensive presents can really add up. I think I've decided to make a small emergency kit with a few emergency candles, a lighter or box of matches, a candle holder if I can find some that the candles will fit, maybe a small flashlight and some of those Hot Hands things. Christmas comes in the winter where I live and power outages happen occasionally. I thought having these items together in a small plastic box would be helpful in case the power goes out. My co-workers and I are all at the stage where we don't need any more "stuff" so I try to give practical items or things like candy or other treats.
I love your blog. Thank you for allowing us this peek into your life. God bless you!
Thank you so much for sharing your process. I can't wait to make my own vanilla sugar and extract. I have known about these for years but never tried. The beans seemed so costly. Glad there's cheaper sources.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Leslie in Ohio
I toss my still warm from the oven shortbread biscuits in my homemade vanilla sugar yum. I've always just put a whole bean in the container of sugar but I like your idea better getting two uses out of one bean. Shirley, Perth, Western Australia.
ReplyDeleteHello Annabel ! What a gorgeous gift idea !! You are so amazingly creative ! Can you please give us a recipe for tuna Mornay / casserole. I dont like cornflake topping as some do, and some people like a red sauce. I prefer a white sauce. It is very hard to find cream of celery or cream of asparagus soup in a tin to use as a base. I find plain flour and Milke has no taste. I adore your other recipes. Love Sonia. Sydney, Australia
ReplyDeleteDear Sonia, Thank you! Now you have given me the idea I will do Tuna Mornay as a basics post. So give me a week or two. But I dont use either soups... I do milk with cornflour and a packet of chicken noodle soup mix. Cream of check works too. I like it because this recipe can be made entirely from pantry shelf stable ingredients. It's very handy! Thank you for your kind words! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteSonia if you can find celery seed and crush them or crushed dried celery leaves you can make your own cream of celery soup. I buy the leafiest celery bunches I can find and then cut off the leaves and dry them in a very low oven (I don't have a dehydrator yet). I love the aroma of them and have found myself tossing dried celery into tuna salad and potato salad and into soups.
DeleteWhat you're missing in mixing the milk and flour is seasoning as Annabel points out. Cream of chicken: add chicken bouillon. You might also add a bit of onion juice (grate on the finest side of a grater and the watery result is onion juice) or you could use onion powder. I don't know how you'd make the cream of asparagus though...
May I educate you? On the package of store vanilla flavored sugar, the bag actually says Vanillin. Vanillin is not true vanilla. Vanillin is a chemical product that results when paper is being made. It smells and tastes like vanilla and is used as an inexpensive substitute for true vanilla which is much pricier. I researched this out years ago and it's apparently deemed safe for consumption, but I'll go on to share further that for many years I lived within a mile or two of a paper plant for a major manufacturer of diapers, toilet paper, tissues, etc. here in the States. The smell from a paper mill is very unpleasant and on heavily overcast days or days with very high humidity, I would get a headache that would last for days. My ex often worked with the company during their annual clean-ups, and they used highly toxic chemicals to clean the plant. Naturally when I did my research on the subject of Vanilla and discovered the source of vanillin, I decided I'd rather trust a natural product rather than one that was basically a byproduct of lignin, the liquid waste from a paper plant that might have come in contact with toxic chemicals!
ReplyDeleteTerri that is way worse than I thought! Thank you!
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