Here is the recipe for Pete’s fantastic vanilla syrup. It works brilliantly in milkshakes, for poaching fruit, or as a drizzle over oat porridge or icecream. Because he used our homemade extract, the syrup has a clean, almost crisp, vanilla flavour and a flotilla of small black seeds. It’s an easy recipe to prepare, providing you remembered to make extract three months before, but tricky to get just right. Pete has a particularly fine palate when it comes to syrups and jams – he always manages to produce a perfect balance of flavours and textures.
- 2 litres filtered water
- 1 kg white sugar (possibly more)
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 or more fresh vanilla pods
- 2 Tbsp homemade vanilla extract (plus a couple of vanilla pods that were soaking in the vodka)
1. Scrape out the fresh vanilla pod and add the seeds, plus the pod into a large pot. Add the water, sugar, soaked vanilla pods and brown sugar and heat gently until the solution boils and the sugars dissolve.
2. Add the vanilla extract and bring back to the boil briefly. Allow to cool a little, then check that the syrup has thickened slightly (otherwise you’ll just end up with sugary water). The thickness of the syrup is related to the amount of sugar – if you’d like greater viscosity, simply add more sugar until it reaches a consistency you’re happy with. Taste for vanilla – you want to add as much vanilla extract as you can whilst still keeping the syrup in balance. This recipe is all about tasting as you go to ensure the flavour is smooth and well-rounded.
3. Ladle the syrup into sterilised bottles and seal well. Place the used vanilla pods in a small jar and top up with a little syrup. Store this in the fridge and use it as a “starter” for your next batch, by putting it into the pot with the other ingredients. The starter can be used several times before the macerated beans lose their oomph.
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
You never fail me!
lol
Ditto, Cassandra. I loved your last post!
great idea .. sounds delicious .. Laila ..
Thanks Laila!
Oooh I have my first batch of homemade vanilla extract to be ready by late September. I am sooo making this as soon as my extract is ready. I am leaving it to soak in vodka for 4 1/2 months for really strong flavor. I think this vanilla syrup and homemade extract will be 2 of the stars in my Christmas baskets this year :) Thanks for the great recipe!
Maryann, you’re most welcome! I hope it’s as much of a hit with your friends as it has been with ours. Once you’ve made your own vanilla extract, you’ll never go back to the bought stuff – the homemade is so much nicer. :)
Juct came across your blog it is fantastic, could I ask where do you buy vanilla pods in bulk and where did you buy the beautifull glass bottles?
Helle, we’re based in Sydney Australia. We buy our vanilla pods in bulk from Chef’s Warehouse in Surry Hills and our glass bottles from Plasdene in Milperra. There are apparently quite a few mail order sources for vanilla pods as well, although we’ve never bought from any of them. Hope this helps! :) Celia
I now have 85 ‘premium’ vanilla pods, 30p each, (500 grams worth) from an internet retailer in the UK. So just remind me what else I can do with them…. vanillamart was the one I used, very speedy, the beans look perfect, though I am not an expert and the kitchen smells wonderful. Home made custard, icecream, syrup, give away to friends, and something about Jamie Oliver but I forget that bit….. :)
First you should keep them in an airtight container – vac sealed or stashing some in a sealed glass jar is good. I once watched an episode of Oliver’s Twist where Jamie had this huuuuge glass jar of vanilla pods on his kitchen bench, and I did lust after that – I thought it would be wonderful to have so much vanilla at my disposal!
Other things to do include making your own vanilla sugar, which is as simple as sticking pods in bags of sugar, or what I do, which is blitzing sugar and scraped seeds in the food processor or blender to a very fine icing sugar consistency, and then storing it with the scraped out pod in a large jar. Perfect for scattering over the top of cakes and desserts.
I came upon your website. I just made my extract & I can’t wait to make this syrup. Only 3 months to go or so. Has anyone made this recipe from store bought vanilla extract from a gourmet store. I don’t know if I can wait that long to try the recipe out once.
How do you store the bottles of syrup for? Shelf or fridge? How long do they last?
Krissy, we store ours on the shelf, as it tends to crystallise in the fridge. Give it a good shake before you use it. Ours are usually good for at least a couple of months – I guess storage time would be comparable to regular sugar syrups.
This sounds fantastic! I’ve got some old pods that have dried out a bit, so difficult to extract the seeds. I’m assuming this recipe will be a great way to use them, since I guess the vodka will extract the flavour really well. Can’t wait to taste how well it works. Thanks for the information . . . much appreciated.
Hope you like it! In terms of making the vanilla extract, I think old pods would work fine in the vodka, as they’ll plump up again. We put our old pods in the vanilla syrup too, to give it extra vanillariness. :)
Wow, that’s a really fleet response. Thanks a million. “Vanillariness” Is a fine word. What about ‘vanillarity’ as something shorter? (only just) Seriously, love your blog. Can’t wait to read and try more. Merry Christmas from a very snowy UK. Les
Hi Celia, I was wondering if you could let me know the size of the bottles you use to store the syrup as I’m planning to buy some from Plasdene and I’m not sure which ones to get. Many thanks!
Hi Ann, have fun at Plasdene! There’s a lot to look at there, although do give them a call and check out their cash limits – I think you need to make a minimum purchase, which can end up being a lot of bottles! From memory the bottles we used in the photo above were about 250ml – I think they were these ones. Cheers!
Thanks Celia! I’ll probably have too much fun as I love storing things in glass jars and bottles!
Hi Celia I was looking on line for vanilla pods to purchase and came across this site http://www.naturalvanilla.com.au. I’ve just ordered some to make the vanilla extract. I always enjoy your site thanks for some lovely recipes.
I found the prices at https://vanillaplantations.com.au/ for organic vanilla pods were hard to beat. They seem to be making great vanilla essence.