How to Make Blueberry Extract for Baking (Two Ingredients)
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Add a punch of blueberry flavor to your next pie, ice cream, or batch of scones with this homemade blueberry extract for baking! It seriously could not be easier and costs much less than the stuff from the store!
Love making your own extracts? I have a bunch of extract recipes to help you have fun playing in the kitchen. Try this vanilla extract, lavender extract, or cinnamon extract today!
Home cooks should always have a great selection of homemade extracts to play with. They’re a great way to ramp up the flavor of the fresh ingredients in your bakes without the additives found in commercial products, like propylene glycol, natural flavors, added sugars, or preservatives.
Plus, making homemade extracts couldn’t be easier. You need just two simple ingredients and a little patience!
This blueberry extract recipe and the printable label are currently available in my ebook DIY Extracts!
Ingredients
- Blueberries: You can make this extract any time of the year by using fresh or even frozen berries. For fresh berries, be sure to wash and dry them first. You may also want to crush them to release their natural falvors.
- Vodka: Choose 100-proof vodka or Everclear for a really clean tasting extract.
How to Make Blueberry Extract
- Add your clean, dry berries to a mason jar. Feel free to crush the berries with the butt of a wooden spoon.
- Cover with alcohol.
- Shake daily and store in a cool, dry place for 4-5 weeks.
- When the extract has a strong aroma of fresh blueberries, strain out the extract into your final storage jar. I prefer to use amber glass bottles.
Tips & Variations
- This recipe makes enough for 1 cup of extract, which may be more than you need. For half a cup (4 fl oz), use just under 1/2 cup of blueberries and 4 ounces of alcohol. For 1/4 cup of extract (2 fl oz), use just under 1/4 cup berries and 2 oz of vodka.
- For better results, let your blueberry extract sit as long as possible to extract the most flavor. You can also add more berries for even more flavor.
Storage
Extracts should be stored in a dark glass bottle to avoid sunlight. Keep your jar in a dark place like a cupboard. Extracts have a shelf life of approximately one year.
How to Use Blueberry Extract
Use blueberry extract to enhance the blueberry flavor in your favorite baked goods! I prefer to use it with fresh or frozen blueberries; it just makes that flavor even more noticeable.
Try replacing vanilla extract with blueberry extract to make:
- Blueberry waffle batter
- Berry scones
- Muffins
- Blueberry Crumble Bars
- Blueberry yogurt
- Whisk into blueberry icing
- Blueberry cream cheese
- Blueberry pie
- Berry popsicles
- Homemade cakes
- Blueberry white chocolate cookie recipe
- Enhance your berry smoothie
- Mix into Greek yogurt with fresh berrries
simple & from scratch
Learn how to make 15 delicious extracts!
In my ebook DIY Extracts, you’ll learn everything you need to know to make 15 homemade extracts to add tons of flavor to every bake.
FAQs
Most of the blueberry extracts on the market add a natural flavor blend, giving them a stronger blueberry flavor than this extract can allow. Without those natural blueberry flavors, this extract still has a lot of flavor, but it won’t be quite as in-your-face as the commercially made products.
Most home bakers will enjoy the high quality of this DIY extract. It still offers great flavor, even if it’s less intense than the artificial stuff. That’s kind of the point.
Although there are many types of blueberries out there, they’ll all make delicious extracts. Feel free to use whichever blueberries you can find. If you’re really into farm-to-table, you could even make extracts with different blueberry varieties to compare the flavors.
Absolutely! Every summer, my sister, her kids, and I visit a local blueberry field and pick pound after pound of fresh blueberries. I wash, dry, and then freeze them to enjoy all year long. These are the blueberries I used for this extract, and they turned out great! As the blueberries thaw, they’ll naturally start to release juices and color.
If you use fresh berries, you may want to mash them before you add the vodka to speed up this process.
Related Recipes
- Vanilla Extract
- Lavender Extract
- Cinnamon Extract
- Coffee Extract for Baking
- Blackberry Extract
Blueberry Extract for Baking
Equipment
- 1 mason jar
- 1 Small strainer
- 1 Amber glass bottle
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
- 1 cup vodka, 100-proof or Everclear
Instructions
- Add your clean, dry berries to a mason jar. Feel free to crush the berries with the butt of a wooden spoon.
- Cover with alcohol.
- Shake daily and store in a cool, dry place for 4-5 weeks.
- When the extract has a strong aroma of fresh blueberries, strain out the extract into your final storage jar. I prefer to use amber glass bottles.
Notes
Nutrition
real food 101
From Scratch for Beginners
If you didn’t grow up cooking from scratch and are new to the world of real food and food preservation, you’ll love From Scratch for Beginners. It simplifies the whole process so you can start cooking from scratch every day!
