Vanilla extract is a natural food item that is used in dessert and other recipes. Apart from using as an ingredient in the food, vanilla extract can be used for other purposes too!

Vanilla extract is extraction of vanillin compound using alcohol. Vanillin is the compound that gives unique fragrance to vanilla. This dark brown liquid of vanilla extract can be used for various purposes.

Here are few vanilla extract hacks one should try:

1. As air freshener: Fill sprayer bottle with water and add couple of drops of vanilla extract. Spray as needed. Another way to use the extract is place one or two drops of the concentrate close to light bulb. As the light glows, extract evaporates and the aroma spreads.
2. Paint odor: To reduce paint odor, add few drops of vanilla extract and mix well before applying paint.
3. Refrigerator odor: To remove odor from refrigerator, dip cotton in vanilla extract and place it inside the fridge.
4. To relieve burn pain: Vanilla is known for reducing pain. Applying vanilla extract to small burns relieves the pain. When alcohol evaporates from extract, it cools down the burning sensation.
5. As bug repellant: Spraying vanilla infused water repels the bugs
6. For toothache: Some people use cotton ball dipped in vanilla to get rid of toothache.
7. Deodorize microwave: Place vanilla infused water in microwave and turn on for few seconds to get rid of unwanted odor from microwave.
8. For cleaning purpose: Vanilla extract contains some amount of alcohol. It is helpful in removing glue, tape or stickers.
9. Salad dressing refinement: Adding a little vanilla extract to vinegar based salad dressing will soften the tanginess of salad dressing.
10. For cold sore: Vanilla extract is useful in reducing cold sore. Dip cotton in extract and place it on cold sore.

There are many other medicinal properties of vanilla plant. You will get to know about it in Grandma’s remedies.

Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vanilla_extract.JPG : Attribution: Glane23, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Image by gate74 from Pixabay (cc by 0)

Vanilla plant: Image by Binesh A B from Pixabay (cc by 0)