It may lose flavor, but vanilla is alcohol based....and if it hasnt' evaporated, I can't see what would be wrong with it.
Linda C

I make my own vanilla, and I don't think there's a shelf life to it at all. If you'd like to make your own vanilla, here's the "recipe". I learned this when I was touring the vanilla plantations in Tahiti.

Take a bottle of vodka, add several long vanilla beans to it, cap and store for 6 months. I actually store mine for 18 months before I used it.... I write the date I started making the vanilla on the bottle. The vanilla tastes absolutely fabulous, and adds a very special touch to every recipe I use it in.

For a special baked good, I use my really gourmet vanilla, which I've made using Courvoisier Cognac as its base. It's very rich and yummy.

You could use any alocohol base you'd like. Rum would be very good, too, I think.

Since I don't believe in wasting anything. When I think it's time to retire the vanilla beans from the alcohol, and replace them with new beans, I insert the used beans in a cannister of sugar, where they impart the vanilla/alcohol flavor to the sugar. More yummy!

Beth, when you make your own vanilla - is it brown? Thanks.

One of my favorite vanillas is this Puerto Rican vanilla that is made by passing it through coconut shells. It has a little coconut flavor to it and I like it for certain dishes. I can't always get a hold of it so I keep bottles of it a long time. I'm pretty sure this last two bottles are about ten years or older and still taste great.

Cookie, the longer you let the vanilla age, the browner it gets. It is never as brown as the stuff you buy in the store, but it definitely has a brown color to it. The taste is really incredible, so I choose taste over color. Of course, if you make the gourmet vanilla out of the cognac, it is brown because that is the color of the cognac.

One of my cooking magazines - either Fine Cooking or Cook's Illustrated - did a test on the shelf-life of vanilla. They said due to the high alcohol content of 35%, vanilla keeps indefinitely. In taste tests between newly purchased and 12-yr old vanilla, there was absolutely no difference detected.

Homemade - well, that's up to you. It should be okay, assuming you've used an 80-proof (40% alcohol) liquor to begin with.

White vanilla is probably synthetic vanillin. Pure vanilla essence is amber.

Regardless, kept in a cool dark place both artificial and true vanilla compounds will retain their quality for years.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Dictionary: Vanilla

Thank you for the formula for vanilla extract, Beth4. I had no idea it was so simple!

When do you take the beans out? After 18 months? Longer?
Thanks for your info, it's really interesting!

Bumblebeez -- I leave the beans in for a long time. My most recent batch I began in Feb 2007, and the beans are still in there. I didn't ask the vanilla plantation folks how long to leave the beans in the alcohol -- I doubt there's a limit to how long you can keep the beans immersed in alcohol. The beans look fine.

And, the accurate description of the color of my vodka-based vanilla is amber. The cognac-based vanilla is the color of cognac.

Coconut- My DD is staying in PR for a few more weeks. I will ask her to bring some for me to try, but would appreciate if you'd share a couple of recipes where you use it!

Compumom, the brand is East Indian. Imported Pure Natural Vanilla Essence. It's imported to sell in the Puerto Rican stores in the Bronx. Hopefully they have the brand there or they'll know what she's talkin about.

I usually use it in custards or rice pudding and often use it in a icing that I'm going to put on a plain white or yellow cake. Sometimes I will also use it in the cakes themselves. Anywhere that a milk coconut recipe would be nice, I'll just substitute an equal amount of this vanilla for the regular. Ice creams work well too, chocolate comes to mind as good with this.