Our Story

Welcome to KC Vanilla Company! We are excited to share with you our company origins and mission to bring the highest quality vanilla to all!

I, Dana, love to cook and bake. I love creating delicious treats and savory dishes for my family and friends to enjoy. I found a lot of my dishes were wonderful but felt like something was missing. I began to google how to enhance and elevate my creations. Search results yielded tons of information; the most consistent recommendation was to use quality vanilla. I assumed I was using a quality vanilla so when I went to my pantry and read the ingredients on my vanilla extract I was SHOCKED to discover it contained NO vanilla whatsoever! In fact it contained corn syrup, and natural flavorings listed as tea and cocoa. 

On my next trip to Costco I picked up a bottle of vanilla extract. It’s ingredients listed vanilla extractives in water, alcohol, and sugar. Not bad, I thought, and splurged on the $34.99 bottle at the time. I noticed the smell was superior to the “vanilla” I had been using.

As time went on I found myself thinking more and more about vanilla and the process of making my own. I mentioned it to Mike, who had no knowledge either, but was intrigued. Together we went down the rabbit hole of internet research. 

Vanilla is simple, yet complicated. The varieties of bean, plus the alcohol combinations are endless. But I went for it. I ordered vanilla beans via Amazon, chopped them up, and threw them in some vodka. Then waited. And waited. And waited some more. The brewing/extracting process took 2 months (it gets better with age), but I was committed to waiting. I shook my bottle every morning, not missing a day. 

One midwest winter day, I opened the jar, splashed some in pancake batter, and life has never been the same. The smell was incredible. So pure, so much different than either of the extracts I had used. Little flecks of vanilla beans floated throughout. I noticed the flecks in the pancakes! Mike and the kids asked what I did different.

I knew I would never go back to store bought vanilla. I’ve enjoyed brewing my own vanilla for the last 3 years. We gifted some to family and friends and they’ve all come back asking for more, thus began our little hobby business. 

We knew we wanted the most ethically sourced beans without compromising quality. It was a six month process, but we finally found the beans matching our vision. And we are excited to bring that vision to others through KC Vanilla Company. 

Whether you are looking to make your own vanilla, or find an extract that takes your dishes to the next level, we have that for you. We small batch the vanilla to ensure the highest quality possible. 

Cooking and baking is a universal love language and we hope our vanilla will be a part of yours.