Vanilla beans are the purest form of vanilla flavor and they are one of the least-often used formats of vanilla in the US. Average home bakers turn most to pure vanilla extract and then vanilla paste to bake, cook and mix into cocktails. With their lower frequency of use, vanilla beans often seem to be reserved for the most “special” recipes.
Vanilla beans are best used in applications where you want vanilla to be the primary focal flavor – and they are especially nice to use in custards, whipped cream, frostings and ice cream where you want to see the flecks of vanilla beans. This is why vanilla paste is the fastest-growing vanilla product in the US – because you get the flecks of vanilla with the ease of a pourable liquid/syrup from a jar. But sometimes you want to break out the fancy china, or just follow that recipe for creme brulee that calls for a whole gourmet vanilla bean! And that’s perfect!
How to use vanilla beans after first use
We’re here to talk through what you can do with those vanilla beans after you use them! There are some instances (like the aforementioned creme brulee) that will ask you to steep the vanilla beans in a liquid. Those recipes, you’ll want to just compost or trash the spent vanilla beans to avoid any bacteria growth from the introduced fluids. But, in recipes where you’re asked to split and scrape the vanilla bean, we’ve got tips to extend the life of those precious pods! Need some help splitting and scraping the bean? Check out this helpful video!
Vanilla Sugar
This is the most common way to repurpose vanilla beans because you’re likely to have sugar on hand (since you’re baking!) and because it’s super easy. Simply take the pods that you’ve split and scraped, and add them to a jar or air-tight bag (ziplock is fine) and shake every once in a while. The sugar will draw out the remaining flecks of vanilla seeds and aroma from the pods. And, it will make a beautiful topping to desserts.
Vanilla Salt
This is the same idea but will require a bit more effort because we prefer to use this with sea salt and the flakes are larger than sugar granules. For this, we recommend chopping up the vanilla bean pods into smaller segments, about ¾ of an inch, to allow for more flavors and melding of the sea salt flakes with the pods. Add your sea salt and chopped vanilla beans to a small bowl and gently work them with your hands to introduce the two ingredients. Once they’re combined, add to a jar or air-tight bag and shake occasionally. This will be your next favorite topping for chocolate chip cookies!
Homemade Jam
Save your pods in an airtight jar or plastic bag. The next time you make jam or preserves, add the “spent” vanilla beans and you’ll see that they have retained a TON of delicious flavor. Our Madagascar Vanilla Bean Strawberry Jelly is the perfect way to use up those vanilla beans!
Homemade Bar-Worthy Cocktails
We love an excuse to stay in and make a cocktail that any mixologist would approve of and gourmet vanilla beans are an “easy pass” to elevator your skills to the next level. We recommend trying our Vanilla Rosini or a Vanilla Espresso Martini! You can also curate a selection of infused alcohols easily with vanilla beans that have been split and scraped. Find the steps here.
Ready to get started? We have a three count jar of Fairtrade Organic Gourmet Madagascar Vanilla Beans available online here!