It’s time for another game of ‘What is that and why is it in your pantry/fridge/ freezer?’ No those aren’t bugs or turds. This item is great to have in your pantry. What is it?
Vanilla sugar!
I pulsed some regular white sugar in the Magic Bullet for a few seconds to get finer grains, then stored it with a broken vanilla bean pod. After a week or two, the whole thing is incredibly fragrant and you can use it any way you’d use plain sugar. I’ve read that one tablespoon of vanilla sugar has the flavoring power of 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
It’s great for cakes, cookies and frosting. I most often use it sprinkled on berries or in a cup of black tea. Actually, the most common thing I do is open up the container and smell it because it’s basically heaven.
Make your own by scraping vanilla beans into two cups of sugar (granulated white or caster sugar). Bury the pod in the sugar and keep in a covered container for at least a week for vanilla flavor to infuse itself. It can be stored pretty much indefinitely I think, and you can keep adding sugar as long as the vanilla pods have their fragrance.
