A Little Vanilla Crazy

Last week I bought some vanilla beans in bulk. This week I have gone a little nuts with them.

First I made vanilla sugar. Never made this before, but sounds good to me.

Next came more extract. Not that I have finished what I had previously made, but this batch is to share. Maybe.

I just finished making vanilla salt. It may sound a little weird, but I think it would be really good on salted caramel.

Here are the recipes:

Extract

750 ml bottle vodka
20 vanilla beans

Split vanilla beans almost in half. Add to vodka bottle. You will need to remove some of the vodka beforehand so it doesn't overflow. 1/4-1/2 cup should do. Add it back and use the extra to make a cocktail :).
Shake occasionally. Place in cool dark spot to steep. Wait 2-6 months.

Sugar

2 cups sugar
2 vanilla beans

Place sugar into food processor. Half and scrape vanilla bean pods and add seeds to sugar. Pulse just until evenly incorporated. Place scraped pods into a clean quart jar and cover with sugar. Seal tightly and let it sit for at least two weeks. It may slightly harden. Just shake jar to loosen.
Use like regular sugar.

Salt

3 vanilla beans
1 cup Maldon salt-or any flaky sea salt (Williams-Sonoma or Amazon.com)

Split and scrape beans. Work the seeds into the salt by hand. Divide the salt between two half-pint jars and add pods in. Seal with a tight lid. It is ready to use. Think salted caramel mocha.