A whole vanilla bean does not need to disappear into an extract jar. Amia of Make It Amazing turns the entire cured pod into a spoonable paste, cutting the beans small enough for the blender to break down before adding the sweet base.
Disclosure: Amadeus provided the vanilla in this video to Make It Amazing as complimentary samples. Make It Amazing is an Amadeus affiliate.
Video: Make It Amazing, @makeit.amazing.
What the video shows
- Cut the beans. Amia slices the whole cured pods into short pieces so the blender blade can catch them.
- Build the base. The bean pieces go into the blender with sugar, vodka, light corn syrup and liquid.
- Blend. The mixture changes from pale and speckled to a dark paste as the pod pieces break down.
- Jar it. Amia pours the finished paste into a glass jar and labels the batch “Uganda Vanilla Bean Paste 8-31-26.”
The video is silent, so the measured recipe matters. Our tested whole-bean method uses 4 ounces of gourmet or extract-grade beans, 2 cups of sugar, 12 ounces of plain 80-proof vodka, 6 tablespoons of light corn syrup and enough water to keep the blender moving. It pours thin, thickens over the next day or two, and tastes strongly of alcohol until the vanilla settles forward after roughly two weeks.
For the full measurements, storage guidance and a powder-based alternative, read our vanilla bean paste and extract guide. The whole-bean recipe works with either gourmet beans or the more economical extract-grade beans.
About Make It Amazing
Make It Amazing is a California custom-cake and dessert business. Amia tested Amadeus beans in her own kitchen and filmed this batch as she made it. Visit letsmakeitamazing.com or follow @makeit.amazing.