Homemade Vanilla Extract

When I first discovered that I had fructose malabsorption, reading labels was an exciting event.  First, I had to become with the terminology and phraseology.  I had to learn the difference between "high fructose corn syrup" (bad) and "corn syrup" (good - glucose-only, assuming it's real).  I had to research gums and decide whether I wanted to try them.  But then, I started to get annoyed.  Were all foods chock full of appalling and disgusting ingredients?  Did manufacturer's have to put sugar in everything?  Did there have to be unpronounceable ingredients in every last thing that I ate?

When I delved into baking (thank you, gluten-free recipes!), vanilla extract was no exception.  At my local grocery store, real vanilla extract had "SUGAR" prominently displayed as the second ingredient on the label, and imitation vanilla extract had the cryptic "natural flavoring" that any good health food nut / conspiracy theorist / person like me who's done a bit of research (ha) will tell you is something you want to avoid.

So when I saw this simple yet elegant recipe on pinterest (love you, pinterest), I decided to try it:

Homemade Vanilla Extract on Allrecipes.com

It took me some detective work:  I had no idea if or where I could find vanilla beans; however, it turns out that my local Bulk Barn has them in stock for $4.75 for two.  My store had them in little vials at one of the front counters and were apparently popular because I got the last five vials.

The vodka I chose proudly proclaims that it's made with potatoes.  (Did you know that a lot of vodkas aren't nowadays?  Yeah, totally awesome, thanks, cheap consumerism.)  I've read two theories on alcohol:  The first says that all wheat-based alcohols should be avoided and thus I must ensure that I drink only potato- or rice-based alcohol.  The second theory says that the fermentation process consumes the fructans in the wheat, and therefore even beer is safe to drink.  Since I don't like beer and I'd rather have vodka made with potatoes, thank you very much, I am careful with what and the brands that I drink.  And, final thought on alcohol:  Don't drink too much because it's a gut irritant.  Yet another reason to be the DD?

I've researched whether or not vanilla beans contain any fructose or fructans; however, I've been unable to come up with anything.  The book IBS-Free at Last! Second Edition. Change Your Carbs, Change Your Life advises that herbs and spices have not yet been tested for FODMAP composition; however, both real and imitation vanilla extracts are on the "use in small doses" list.

As I've researched frustose malabsorption, I came across one FM recipe blogger who advised that I think about the recipes as a whole instead of trying to avoid everything on the list all the time.  She had posted a recipe that called for tomato paste, which I very well knew was on the bad list (and I always know what I know, when I know it!!).  When I questioned her, she answered, "If a recipe uses 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, remember that it gets divided by the total number of servings, so a recipe serving 6 people would only have a teaspoon per serving. That should be tolerated easily."

Makes total sense to me.  And I shall use that same philosophy for my homemade vanilla extract.  Recipes usually call for one teaspoons or tablespoon, meaning that only a tiny bit goes into the final product.  This probably means that even the real vanilla extract containing sugar should be fine; however, the more I can control what I eat, I do now.  The homemade vanilla extra should be tolerable, assuming I don't drink it.

Although homemade vanilla-infused vodka might be good.  I shall have to keep that in mind.