My $20 bottle of Madagascar vanilla extract was $50 last time I went to Penzey's. Just an hour ago, I bought a smaller bottle to help me ride out the price storm and noticed the price of that $50 bottle went down to $43. I sure hope it gets down to $20 again soon.
The price of vanilla beans have already dropped and I thought I would just make my own extract but I also thought I only needed one bean to so many ounces of vodka. Turns out, you need many more than that and I just can't justify the price despite what some online recipes may claim.