Remove the beans from the 8 oz capacity glass bottle. Split the beans lengthwise, but not all the way, so that the two halves stay connected at their ends. Place beans back in the bottle. Cover the beans with alcohol of choice, seal the bottle and give it a good shake. Allow the mixture to steep in a cool, dark place. Shake weekly for 6 weeks. The longer the beans remain in the alcohol, the stronger the vanilla flavor will be.
Single-fold is the standard of store bought extract. Double-fold is simply twice the amount of beans in the same amount of alcohol as single-fold. Like all fabulous creations double-fold requires a longer period of processing: closer to a year. But amazing!
Many home chefs love to have several extraction kits for various alcohols. Vodka is the standard in making extracts but bourbon, brandy, or rum are also very good.
If you are like me, you enjoy slicing the bean and placing the cavier directly into a recipe. So, buy the 1 full ounce. Make single-fold extract and use the other 1/2 ounce in the recipes that taste better with the cavier added directly. Experiment. Have fun.
