By Kathryn Espenschied and Lisa Sheffer
Q: What is a mother jar?
A: From our Vanilla Glossary
Mother jar: (noun) a jar of perpetually brewing extract that is made by continuously replacing alcohol as extract is used and replacing beans as they get older. Mother jars can be any size, mixed beans or just one type, mixed alcohol or just one type. The only requirement is that it is perpetually going.
Many beanies also refer to their extracts made with mixed vanilla beans as Mother Jars.
Q: What are the benefits of a mother jar?
A: IndriVanilla really took off during the pandemic of 2020-2021, as people were baking at home and couldn't go to the store as much. So, we know that the biggest benefit of having a large, strong mother jar of vanilla extract is simply not running out of vanilla. You will have vanilla beans on hand and can pull one out for simmering in custard bases, or to use for its vanilla caviar. You also will be prepared and empowered to add vanilla more judiciously, give it as gifts, or even rescue your local church children's activity!
Q: Do I need to wait a year to use my mother jar extract after adding more alcohol?
A: When you add more alcohol to your depleted mother jar, it does set the clock back, but it may not completely restart it. If you have, say, a half empty jar of double fold vanilla, adding alcohol will dilute it to single fold and it will still be usable immediately, though not as strong as before. However, if you've completely drained your jar and are refilling it to the top, you can count that as a second extraction for your beans and start the clock over. Your strength on that extract will be about half of what it was the first time.
Q: How many times can I refill my jar before the beans are spent?
A: In our experience, vanilla beans have about 1.5 great batches of vanilla extract in them before they start becoming purely decorative. So, if you start with a double fold vanilla extract, and then use the same amount of alcohol that you used the first go around and don't add any fresh vanilla beans, you'll get a single-fold extract. Approximately, that is. There are still a lot of factors that go into the development of vanilla extract, like if you cut/split any vanilla beans, the ambient temperature, and so forth.
Q: Do I need a really big bottle for making a mother jar?
A: Because we're talking about a method and not a physical bottle, no, you don't need a big jar. A mother jar can be any size, any shape, as long as it is food safe. We recommend glass for alcohol storage. There's some benefit to having a larger bottle, because you can use it to refill a smaller in-use bottle, add more beans and booze to the big mother jar, and then by the time that small bottle is empty again, your mother jar will have had time to recover to a nice, rich extract. But, be warned--big bottles are much more devastating if something goes wrong. Ask us how we know.
(Click the picture to go to the long story of the loss of this 6-gallon carboy of vanilla extract. It is a link to Indri's Vanilla Bean group on Facebook, so if you're not a member there, or if you're not logged in on your current browser, the link may not work for you.)
Q: Can I mix alcohols and/or vanilla bean varieties in my mother jar?
A: For sure! Whenever making vanilla extract, you need to make sure the proof of your alcohol is in the 70-120 proof range, though the most ideal is 80-100 proof (40-50% alcohol by volume). As long as you stay in that range, you can mix to your heart's content. Keep in mind, however, that your alcohol choice will affect the final flavor of the vanilla extract, and not all alcohol choices work well with vanilla beans. A good rule of thumb is if you like the taste or aroma of your alcohol choice, you'll probably like the final flavor.
Q: Can I use the vanilla beans in my mother jar for anything else, like pulling one out for caviar, or taking some to make a batch of vanilla paste or sugar?
A: Yes, absolutely! This is a great way to remove and use up older vanilla beans to make room for fresh ones, which help your mother jar stay nice and strong.
There is a lot of flavor in the pod of the vanilla, so after you squeeze out the caviar, you can return the pod back to the mother jar, or you can dehydrate it for using in vanilla sugar or vanilla powder.
Q: Is there a limit to how strong vanilla extract could get? In other words, if I add 10 ounces of beans to 1 cup of alcohol, will I end up with 10-fold? What about 15 ounces for 1 cup of alcohol? Or 50?
A: In our combined hundreds years of vanilla making experience, we have found that there's a saturation limit to the alcohol where it doesn't seem to get stronger if you add more vanilla beans. Also, there is a limit to how many beans the alcohol can even cover. We've found that about a triple fold, that is 3 ounces of vanilla beans to 1 cup of alcohol, seems to be about as rich as we can make without commercial extraction equipment. But, at the end of the extraction process the first time around, the beans seem to have a lot more flavor left in them than when we make a single or double fold extract. So, just try to keep the vanilla beans covered with alcohol, and experiment away.
Q: Wait, you said the beans need to stay covered--oh no! My bean tips are exposed! Are they going to go moldy?
A: The short answer, no. You're fine.
Sometimes vanilla beans float, or they're long, or we've used some of the extract or the beans have absorbed some, to the point that part of the vanilla bean is now exposed to the air. Vanilla beans act sort of like a wick, drawing the alcohol up and keeping the mold at bay--but the exposed sections aren't able to extract their flavor. Hence, us recommending you try to keep them covered. But there's no need to panic if one won't stay put. You can try things like tying them in knots, cutting the beans up into smaller pieces, adding glass marbles or pie weights to raise the level of the liquid, or transferring things to a smaller jar, but that's up to you.
Q: Wait, but, Do I HAVE to--
A: I'm going to pause right there before you even finish that question. You don't HAVE to do anything. This is your vanilla extract, your experiment, your vanilla beans. You can do anything with them that you would like. Some people get a kick out of winging it, just shoving a bunch of vanilla beans into a jar and topping it with whatever 80 proof liquor they can find. Some people find it relaxing to pull out their scales, carefully split open their beans, and measure their alcohol precisely. The beauty of a Mother Jar is that it makes the already-very-forgiving vanilla extract process even more forgiving. As long as you are enjoying the ride, keep on going!