Make Your Own Vanilla Extract in Just Two Hours With the Instant Pot
Vanilla extract is usually obtained by soaking vanilla beans in alcohol for weeks, weeks, and weeks. But Instant Pot laughs at linear time, and with it you can make vanilla extract in an hour.
Important warning: You can do this with an instant pressure cooker or other electric pressure cooker, but DO NOT do it with a pressure cooker on the stovetop. Hot alcohol + pressure + fire = too many risks. Do not do this!
If you don’t have an Instant Pot right now, even if you order one (or yes, another plug-in pressure cooker), even if it takes a few days to get to you, you can still cook to extract vanilla faster than if you started. the traditional method right now.
Click The Kitchn for full instructions, but basically you put vanilla beans and rubbing alcohol in cans — any kind of alcohol; vodka will be the most neutral, although I would choose bourbon myself – put the cans on the Instant Pot, pour water and cook for an hour. It takes about an hour more for the pressure to dissipate naturally, but when everything is ready (and the cans have cooled down), you will have a really good vanilla extract. This is the perfect gift for the baker in your life, even if that baker is you.