Vanilla Essence - the finished product

Do you ever forget about things? Like actually quite important things like locking the front door or remembering to change out of your pj's before leaving the house?

I forget things quite often. Thankfully none of the things that I just mentioned, although I did once leave the house in my slippers rather than shoes...

I'm blaming old age and stress for my memory loss. I think I need to give up work so I can concentrate on baking and eating.

Sorry vanilla essence, I know you were left in my dark cupboard for a lot longer than you should have been, but all for the good of your flavour.

The vanilla essence I made about 3 months ago or so is done! Or rather was done, but I only just got round to putting it in a nice bottle and actually using it.

It was supposed to be stewing for about 6 weeks, so I expected there to be no alcohol smell left but it still smells pretty boozy. Thankfully the smell of vanilla over rides the smell of vodka, and I can taste it in the things I made with it.

For the method I used see this post.

I think next time I'm going to try and make a vanilla paste/ syrup as I saw Raymond Blanc do on one of his Kitchen Secrets shows. But for now boozy vanilla essence is great!!