Last year I made the Drunken Peaches recipe from Ball and it called for 3 (!!) vanilla beans. I had vanilla paste in the cupboard so I substituted with a dash of that instead. I didn't find the vanilla flavour came through, especially because there's bourbon in the jars.
I'm going to make the recipe again and I'm thinking I'll leave the vanilla out entirely unless someone has a good argument for spending $$$ on vanilla beans?
by PaintedLemonz
8 Comments
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I agree and would do the same thing. It seems the bourbon flavor would be the dominant one anyway as you said with vanilla barely making a difference. You could do a little vanilla extract if you were inclined, but if the paste you used didn’t come through surely extract won’t either. So I say ditch it. My only other suggestion is if you really want to get the vanilla flavor maybe you could use one of those vanilla flavored bourbons that are on the market now. Good luck. I might actually use your recipe to try to flavor up some peaches I have on the counter that aren’t that great. Good luck with your project!
I use vanilla sugar and the old beans from the sugar and the flavor layers in really smoothly.
I used a couple older vanilla beans we had. Only 2 not 3.
Honestly, from last year, we thought 3 was too much anyway and where as you cut into pieces we figured it was fine to do less.
If we hadn’t had them though we would have left out cuz can’t justify the price of them these days.
You can get cheaper infusion grade vanilla beans from online shops like slofoodgroup. Much less than supermarket.
OP, would you tell me the title of the book? I’m interested in getting it!
Bourbon has some very pronounced “vanilla” flavors anyway. I do recommend using Jim Beam Black it is “extra aged” and has more flavor
I make a bourbon peach vanilla bean jam and the vanilla is absolutely present. I’ve used vanilla beans in several canning recipes and I’ve always been able to taste the vanilla. Can’t say I’ve ever used extract or paste but perhaps they just aren’t as strong as the bean.