Drying Out Spent (Used) Vanilla Beans and Rehydrating (New) Dried Out Ones

By Renee Shelton

Vanilla beans are expensive, but worth the price when you use them in pastry recipes because of the flavor they give. Whenever you are making a crème brûlée, crème catalan, a vanilla sauce, vanilla ice cream or other recipes using whole vanilla beans and you've used all the flavor you can from them, don't toss them. Save them. They make for a nice little garnish. Rinse them off, pat them dry, and dry them out in a low oven. They'll make a great garnish for a dessert buffet or other pastry display. Not meant to be eaten, just for garnish only.

Dried Vanilla Beans for Garnish

After using the vanilla beans in a recipe, rinse them off well if it was infusing in a liquid and pat dry. Trim them as needed. Vanilla beans will most likely be halved from being split and scraped. Lay the vanilla beans evenly spaced out on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat and bake in a 200 degree F oven until thoroughly dried. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Use as desired for decoration only. Alternately, if the humidity is very low where you are, allow the rinsed vanilla beans to dry out at room temperature.

Rehydrating Dried Vanilla Beans

It has happened on more than one occasion that the vanilla beans in my pantry are dried out - and not because I dried them out intentionally. Fresh, unused vanilla beans that are dried out can be rehydrated and plumped. Beanilla, a supplier of vanilla beans, has a great recipe for plumping them up using 70 proof vodka or rum.

Locate a tall, thin glass jar with a lid. Snip off 1/8 of an inch from the end of each vanilla bean. Stand up, cut sides down, and pour in about 2 inches of 70 proof (minimum) vodka or rum and store covered until they are plumped. Vanilla beans may be stored up to 6 months like this. Discard any that may exhibit signs of deterioration.