Vanilla Bean Paste

Start making vanilla bean paste by infusing the rum with split vanilla beans.

Split each vanilla bean in half, exposing the vanilla caviar in the middle. Place the rum and vanilla beans together in a large, freezer zip-top bag. Force the air out, close the bag and allow to sit at least seven days. I have done 30 days.... because I forgot about it.

Pour the liquid off the vanilla beans and into a heavy saucepan or small pot. Using a sharp knife, scrape the insides of the vanilla beans into the pan, then add empty pods into the pot, too (they contain a natural thickening agent!)

Add the sugar, water, corn syrup, and lemon juice.

Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly with a silicone or rubber spatula.

Boil 5 minutes, string constantly. It will be clumpy, don't panic.

Carefully remove the split vanilla pods from the pan and save to make vanilla extract or vanilla sugar.

Carefully add the vanilla bean liquid into a blender. Be sure there is ample space for blending.

Turn the blender on its lowest speed with the lid on.

Slowly increase the speed until the paste mixture forms waves or a vortex in the blender.

Carfully remove the lid while the machine is running, or take out the top stopper of the blender lid. Tap/dust the xanthan gum over the swirling mixture.

Add the xanthan gum in ¼ tsp. increments, dusting the xanthan gum over the surface of the moving liquid.

Don't add the whole ¼ tsp. at a time or it will clump. Slowly trickle or tap the spoon to make it snow over the mixture as it swirls.

Turn the blender off periodically and check the consistency. If the caviar rises to the surface, you need more xanthan gum.

Once it stops floating to the top, you don't need to add any more. I used ¾ tsp.

Using a jar funnel, pour your vanilla paste into a quart-sized jar. Shake occasionally as it cools to suspend the caviar in the paste.