Vanilla Infused Sugar

A few weeks back, I had finished bottling homemade vanilla extract (see May 3^rd, 2014 post). I was left with all the spent beans. I could not even fathom throwing them away or composting them – what to do?

Vanilla  Infused Sugar – of course!

I dried the beans on a baking tray at 170°F (the lowest my oven goes otherwise I would have gone lower) for about 60 minutes.





Next I scraped the tiny vanilla bean specks (I have heard this

called vanilla caviar) into a 5 pound jar of white granular sugar. I put the dried beans into my food processer and chopped them up a bit as well. I added these to sugar. I left the sugar to get infused for about 2.5 weeks, shaking the container every few days to keep it nicely mixed up.

The best part was packaging it. I chose wide mouth pint Ball canning jars from their Elite Series. Ooo Laa Laa – they note that the Elite Series is ideal for ‘your signature creations including flavored mustards, savory dressings, fruit-filled jams, dipping sauces and luscious chutneys’. I would add ‘and vanilla infused sugar’ to their list! 

When I have seen vanilla sugar at specialty shops it is always in nice packaging. I wanted aesthetically pleasing and practical packaging (as in ‘let me get a spoonful or a scoopful easily’ packaging).

To prepare the sugar for going in the jar, I removed the large bean pod pieces but sifting the sugar in a colander. This left the sugar with vanilla specks for the final product and kept the larger harder bean pod pieces separate and later, discarded.

One 5 pound bag of sugar filled 7 and ½ of my jars. Now the extra fun part – using it (I put a spoonful in my coffee this morning) and gifting it.

As with almost any culinary adventure, there are many more folks trying the same things and sharing them on their own blogs. For inspiration I checked out my old favorite blog the kitchn and a new favorite one Love, Pomegranate House.

The whole process was quick – the longest part was the 2-3 weeks of infusing – but like all of us, I had plenty to do while it quietly and effortlessly did its infusing. 

All I had to do was create the space and then back away and let it happen. A lesson with larger applications in life!

Sweet greetings,

Katie