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Saturday, May 7, 2011

Vanilla Sugar

I heart vanilla.   Really, really, really heart vanilla.

We go through a lot of vanilla and since I make my own, I have all these vanilla beans just hanging around.   I get them in quantity and keep them in the freezer.    I don't care if they turn a little gray-ish before I use them.   As long as they impart that fabulous flavor, and scent, I'm a happy camper.

I made vanilla this week and while I had the beans out, I decided to make some vanilla sugar.  I used three beans and I left them tall because they fit that way into my sugar jar.   It's a two step process.

1.   Put the vanilla beans in the sugar.
2.   Wait


Step 2 is the hardest because you have to wait longer than 15 minutes.   I know.    I tried.    It's best if you wait a few days.   

Yes, days.  It's ridiculous, but what can you do?   

Since the beans have some moisture in them, the sugar might get a little clumpy - at least that's what happens in Indiana, where it's humid, because this spring it rained every day for six years.  Seriously.  

OK, I'm exaggerating.   It was much closer to only one year. And we had to build arks and start gathering the animals two by two.   And some of us started getting webbed feet.   And gills.  

It was wet, I tell you, wet. 

Where was I?    My brain has mold on it from all the blasted rain.

Oh.  Clumpy sugar.    Yeah, if the sugar clumps, just thump it with a spoon and it should be spoon-able again.   

The end.