How to Get the Seeds Out of a Vanilla Pod - CHOW Tip

Sarabeth Levine, author and owner of Sarabeth's, makes her case for baking with real vanilla, and demonstrates some cost-saving measures.

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TRANSCRIPT
Vanilla beans are precious, they're costly but they're worth every penny and the beauty is to be able to remove all the seeds and this is the best technique that I have come across. You slice the little tip off. Place them in the jar with about two inches of rum. Let them sit for two and a half weeks. After you've soaked the beans, run your finger down here and just squeeze it out. And you'll see it'll come right out the end. It saves you so much time and there isn't really any waste. The pods, when they're dried, are fantastic. You put them in a coffee machine, grind them up, and they become like cinnamon dust and you're able to sprinkle them in your dough's, in your coffee, on your cookies, into whatever you want to use your delicious vanilla for.