15 Flavor Extract Recipes + Free Printable Labels (2024)

FAQs

What extracts can I make at home? ›

To make your non-alcoholic extracts, just substitute the alcohol called for in any extract recipe with three parts food-grade liquid glycerin and one part water. Stir the two ingredients together until well combined. Then, proceed with the recipe as usual.

Split and scrape out the seeds from vanilla beans and place it all (pods and seeds) in a large sealable glass jar or container. Pour in warm vodka, cover and shake to combine. Place in a cool, dry place to infuse for at least one week (two is even better). Strain and use a funnel to transfer to glass bottles.

You can make extracts out of anything (toasted hazelnuts, lemon peels, blackberries, vanilla pods) all you need to do is add vodka to a jar and add your solute in - that's it. There's no real recipe or standardization - just jar, solute, vodka. Leave it be for a couple weeks then give it a smell.

Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add fruit, spices, or herbs of choice, and let simmer slowly, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let mixture cool completely. Strain into a clean jar and refrigerate.

Flavoring oils and extracts can be easily substituted for one another in most recipes. Since flavoring oils are so much more concentrated, you only need a few drops in place of a teaspoon of extract. One other thing to note is that flavoring oils are usually less shelf-stable than extracts.

Ginger syrup or cinnamon syrup can help replicate the heat of alcohol. A tea syrup will add a tannic quality to your drink, which can evoke barrel-aged spirits.

Adding a little alcohol also helps to preserve the extract by preventing the breakdown and loss of herbal properties and growth of bacteria, creating a more stable product than alcohol-free glycerites.

Just remember this ratio: 6 vanilla beans per 8 ounces of alcohol. So if your jar is 12 ounces, use 9 vanilla beans. If it's 16 ounces, use 12 beans. Pour your alcohol of choice on top.

Container: You can use any glass container you would like that has a lid. I like to use pint-sized mason jars with plastic lids. Waxed Paper: A piece placed between the lid and the jar helps to keep the extract from leaking when you shake the jar. It also helps to create a better seal.

What is the white stuff in homemade vanilla extract? ›

Finally, at-home extract makers may may notice white fatty-matter appearing on their beans shortly after submersing them in alcohol. It can have the initial appearance of mold, but when you look closely you will see that it is actually the fatty vanillin oils being extracted. They will break down over time.

Vanilla Extract – See the recipe above and use 4 – 6 whole vanilla beans and 8 ounces of vodka. Orange Extract – Peel the rind of one orange and place the orange strips in a jar with 8 ounces of vodka. Lemon Extract – Peel the rind of one large lemon and place the lemon strips in a jar with 8 ounces of vodka.

Place strawberries in quart size mason jar. Fill mason jar with Everclear making sure that strawberries are submerged. Allow strawberries to extract for 2 to 3 months depending on your preference of flavor. If you want a stronger flavor you can add another 4oz of fresh strawberries and wait another month or two.

The process of creating flavor extracts involves using a liquid base to pull the flavorful oils from herbs, spices, nuts or fruit. It's not unlike brewing a cup of coffee, where hot water is run through ground beans to produce a liquid extract.

The three most common types of extractions are: liquid/liquid, liquid/solid, and acid/base (also known as a chemically active extraction). The coffee and tea examples are both of the liquid/solid type in which a compound (caffeine) is isolated from a solid mixture by using a liquid extraction solvent (water).

Extracts are more potent and contain less alcohol than tinctures, but they still may have more alcohol than many people would prefer.