I was going to start a thread on this, but it dovetails nicely into yours PFR, so here goes.
For all you vanilla lovers, Costco has whole vanilla beans in stock right now, while they last. They are Rodelle Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Beans, 10 ~ 8" beans, packed in clear glass tubes for 13.59.
Making your own vanilla is cheap and easy. Now is the time to start it if you want to have an abundant supply for baking and gifting come holiday time. I go through a lot because I like to bake and because I put a slug into DH's oatmeal every morning ;-)
Buy one Kirkland 1.75L Vodka and the whole vanilla beans. Open one of the two tubes of vanilla beans. Split the beans lengthwise, then split them lengthwise once more and drop them into the vodka bottle. Scrape any brown gunk off the knife and cutting board and drop that in too. Replace cap tightly, give it a gentle shake and stow the bottle away on its side in a cool, dark place. Once in a while, rotate the bottle. That's it! In three months you will have the most awesome tasting vanilla. If you still exchange gifts with people, this makes a great one for very little money.
For whatever reason, prepared vanilla has taken a huge price hike lately. The Kirkland brand used to be 6.99 for a 16 ounce bottle. I just noticed it's jumped to 9.99!
So here's the math:
Kirkland Signature American Vodka 1.75L (roughly 59 oz.) Bottle $13.99 (plus applicable tax, let's say it was 1.26, 'cause it was.) $15.25 total
KS Rodelle Whole Vanilla Beans 13.59/pack but you only need one tube, so $6.80
This makes 59 oz. of vanilla goodness, so $22.05 total or .374 per ounce.
The Costco premade stuff is .62 per ounce. Plus, it comes in ~ 4 plastic bottles vs. 1 glass jar for homebrew.
Best of all, for subsequent batches, just add 1 or 2 beans to the last batch and refill the jar with vodka. Two tubes of vanilla beans can easily make 3-4 1.75 L batches, so your cost drifts down a bit.
Lastly, I live in a high COLA and Costco prices do vary by region, your vanilla project could be even cheaper. BTW, the longer it steeps, the better it tastes, but three months is about the minimum to get a good result. And it's vodka, so it doesn't go bad. I generally keep two bottles going at once.
