Cooking Vanilla

Slit open the vanilla beans lengthwise and scrape the seeds out. Place the split beans into the bottle, along with the seeds that were scraped out. Shake well. The flavor will come out after about a month or two. Keep shaking and sniffing the bottle. As soon as it starts to smell sweet>> it's ready for cooking and baking. A great idea would be to make an additional bottle this year so it will be ready for all your holiday baking next year. Or, for a great gift to a fellow cook, poor some into a decorative bottle with an additional bean inside and wrap a ribbon around it. Remember, the longer the beans ferment in there, the stronger the vanilla flavor you will have.