Vanilla Bean Salt

Instructions Place the salt in a medium bowl and the vanilla beans on a cutting board. Working with one bean at a time and using a very, very sharp knife, split the bean in half lengthwise. Now use the tip of your knife to carefully scrape the seeds from the bean, adding the seeds to the salt bowl as you go. Repeat with the remaining beans and seeds. Make sure to not throw away the vanilla bean pods once the seeds have been scraped away, you can use them for the vanilla sugar (below). Now use your hands and massage the vanilla bean seeds into the salt. Scoop the salt into two 4-6 ounce jars, tins or whatever gift containers you choose. A bag with a tight string would be cute too. Instructions Break up all the vanilla bean pods and the whole vanilla bean and add to a food processor with 1/2 cup sugar. Processor about 3-5 minutes or until most of the vanilla beans are completely ground up. Place a mesh strainer over a large bowl and pour the vanilla sugar through the strainer. Sift the sugar through the strainer and discard the large pieces that are left of the vanilla bean. Scoop the sugar into jars or tins. You can also make this without grinding the beans. Just simply break the beans in half and pour the sugar into the jars or tins. Submerge the vanilla bean in the sugar and screw the caps on. Let the sugar sit at leas 24 hours so the vanilla has time to flavor the the sugar. Leave the beans in the sugar at all times. The longer they sit, the better.