8 Recipes For Making Homemade Extracts | Ready Nutrition (2024)

There is nothing like pure extracts to use in baking your favorite recipes. Using high quality extracts make a big difference in the outcome of your food’s flavor. Additionally, those who are wanting to live a more wholesome lifestyle should be aware that the imitation extracts are made fromwood byproducts and often contain chemicals.

Get Creative!

Extracts are made by transferring the flavor and aromas of the bean, nut or herb into alcohol (usually vodka, but sometimes brandy or rum). Vodka is the alcohol of choice because it has a neutral flavor. Other liquors can be used, but they contribute flavors of their own.

Rather than spending an exorbitant amount of money stocking up on delicious, aromatic extracts, you can make you own in 5 minutes – all you need are a few ingredients: high grade liquor, herbal leaves or flavoring beans and time. That’s it!

To make 8 ounces of extract, the recipe is essentially the same with each recipe:

1 cup vodka and 3/4 cup of extract flavoring

Use this basic extract method for extracting flavors of fruit, nuts, herbs and spices. You can even combine different flavors to make new extracts. How amazing would chocolate coffee bean hazelnut extract be? Or, perhaps lavender vanilla extract? Or, how convenient would it be to have chocolate peppermint extract on hand for your holiday baked goods?

Recommended Extraction Tips

1. Use high quality alcohol. The higher the quality, the better the extract. Typically, vodka makes the most pure extracts, but feel free to play around with different forms of alcohol. I have made vanilla extract with rum and it was divine.
2. Using a dark jar or bottle to store your extracts in will better protect the extracts from sun exposure. We used dark soda bottles that we had from making homemade soda. If you do not have a dark jar or bottle, then make sure you store your extracts in a dark place.
3. Give your extracts the gift of time. Allow extracts to sit and percolate in darkness for two months to fully absorb the flavors you have added to them.
4. Gently shake the jar 3-4 times a week to ensure the flavor is being distributed.
5. Ideally, extracts do not have to be refrigerated and will store indefinitely.

8 Recipes For Homemade Extracts

1. Vanilla Extract

• 1 cup vodka
• 3 vanilla beans

1. Place beans and rum in a clean glass jar or bottle.
2. Leave them in a cool dark cabinet for 6 to 8 weeks or longer as you consume the vanilla extract. This mixture will get darker over time and the flavors get richer. Don’t forget to use the vanilla beans when you are done! The vanilla is ready in about 8 weeks.
3. Remove beans after extraction process is complete.

Tip: You may split the beans or leave them whole. If you leave them whole you can reuse it after the vanilla extract is complete.

2. Chocolate Extract

• 1 cup vodka
• 1/4cup cocoa powder (use high quality dark chocolate for the best flavor)

1. Place cocoa powder and vodka in a clean glass jar or bottle. Mix well.
2. Leave them in a cool dark cabinet for 6 to 8 weeks or longer.
3. Strain mixture to remove any cocoa powder.

3. Coconut Extract

• 1-1/2 cups freshly grated coconut
• 2 cup vodka

1. Drain coconut water and grate fresh coconut shavings and add them toa clean glass jar or bottle.
2. Leave them in a cool dark cabinet for 6 to 8 weeks or longer.
3. Strain mixture to remove any coconut shavings after extraction process.

4. Berry Extract

5. Orange Extract

• 1 cup vodka
• peel of 5 oranges, pith removed

1. Place fruit peels and vodka in a clean glass jar or bottle.
2. Leave them in a cool dark cabinet for 6 to 8 weeks or longer.
3. Remove peels from extract when process is complete.

6. Lemon Extract

• 1 cup vodka
• peel of 5 lemons, pith removed

1. Place fruit peels and vodka in a clean glass jar or bottle.
2. Leave them in a cool dark cabinet for 6 to 8 weeks or longer.
3. Remove peels from extract when process is complete.

7. Almond Extract

• 3/4 almonds, toasted and skins removed
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 cup vodka

1. Place fruit peels and vodka in a clean glass jar or bottle.
2. Leave them in a cool dark cabinet for 6 to 8 weeks or longer.
3. Strain and remove almonds from extract.

8. Peppermint Extract

• 1/2 cup fresh peppermint leaves
• 1 cup vodka

1. Coarsely chop mint leaves and add to a clean glass jar. Fill jar with vodka.
2. Leave jar in a cool dark cabinet for 6-8 weeks.

This article was originally published at Ready Nutrition™ on January 22nd, 2014