Cherry vanilla Extract

One of our most talented extract making pros, Michelle, provided this recipe for her Live extract making party on November 11, 2022. 

We are excited to share it here for your enjoyment. It's an amazingly sweet use of vanilla beans and cherries to create a flavor that is perfect for holiday treats, summertime ice creams, custards and so much more. 

Cherry Vanilla Extract

4 oz Freeze Dried Cherries 

(If using mason jar, fill 1/3 full ) 

1/2 oz Tongan or Kerema PNG Vanilla Beans ( can substitute any, I chose these two for the cherry notes in them) 

12 oz Vodka or Rum ( I'm using Rum, for the added sweetness)

You can split a couple beans open then tie in knots and drop in jar, then add cherries. That will help keep beans under alcohol. 

Add in your measured alcohol over the cherries and beans. Let sit for 4-6 weeks or until you see the cherries lose their color. Then strain out the cherries, put beans back in jar. Dry and grind cherries for cherry sugar if wanted or save for recipes. 

Add next 4 oz of new freeze dried cherries over beans, add your strained extract back into jar. If it looks like cherries are sticking up, add a little more alcohol but be careful not to dilute too much.  Let this sit another 4 weeks or so until the color goes from these. Strain. 

Now time to do a taste test with unsweetened cream and sprinkles of sugar and 5-6 drops of extract. Stir and let set for 20 seconds. Taste. If it has enough cherry flavor you can stop with the cherries. If it still has too much alcohol bite, do another round. If the vanilla is satisfactory too, you can remove and add to sugar for some light cherry vanilla sugar. I keep my beans in my extract for the added vanilla flavor after my cherries are done. Personal preference. You can do it either way.