What is the ruling on eating vanilla when it is immersed in alcohol during preparation?

Praise
be to Allah

Firstly: 

Vanilla – which is known
botanically as planifolia – is the most expensive plant after saffron,
because of its rarity and the difficulty in obtaining it. The word vanilla
originally comes from the Spanish word “vainilla”, meaning “little pod”. Its
pods resemble those of carob. Some people use it in bread and some use it in
perfumes; the most common use of vanilla in the Arab world is in the
manufacture of ice cream and sweets. 

It says in al-Mawsoo‘ah al-‘Arabiyyah
al-‘Aalamiyyah: 

The vanilla plant produces pods
that are collected when they are a greenish yellow, then they are treated. 

Vanilla is the name for a number
of climbing orchids. Vanilla extract, which is used to give flavour in
chocolate, ice cream, pancakes and sweets, is produced from this plant. 

The plant produces its fruit in
the form of a cylindrical pod, the length of which is between 13 and 15 cm.
This fruit is oily and black inside, and contains a number of small black
seeds. The pods are collected when they are a yellowish-green colour. After
that they are treated or dried; this process shrinks the seeds and makes
them rich and brown, producing the vanilla flavour and smell that is
well-known. 

Vanilla extract is produced by
means of a complex and costly process. The seeds are cut into small pieces,
then they are steeped in alcohol and water. Food scientists have developed
an artificial vanilla flavor because of the high cost of natural vanilla.
End quote.

Secondly: 

With regard to the ruling on
eating vanilla, it is permissible even though it was mixed with alcohol
during preparation, for two reasons: 

1.    
Alcohol is not
najis (impure) in a physical sense; rather it is taahir (pure)

2.    
The alcohol does
not have any effect on vanilla; the one who consumes it does not become
intoxicated and no effect of alcohol is seen when eating it. Rather whatever
may become attached to the seeds during preparation disappears and leaves no
trace in the seed. Something that is like this is not haraam to consume. 

We have mentioned the ruling on
alcohol and that it is pure, and we have mentioned the ruling on foods and
drinks to which some alcohol has been added, in the answers to questions no.
59899 and 146710. In the
answer to question no. 33763 we quoted the following
from Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him): 

Do not think that any ratio of
alcohol that there may be in a thing makes it haraam; rather if the ratio is
such that it will have an effect, in the sense that if a person drinks this
liquid that is mixed with alcohol he will become intoxicated, then it is
haraam. But if the ratio is very small and has diminished and left no trace,
and it does not have any effect, then it is halaal.

End quote. 

The Islamic Organization for
Medical Sciences has researched the topic of haraam substances in food and
drink; among the conclusions they reached were the following: 

–        
Alcohol is not
impure (najis) according to sharee‘ah. Based on what has been established
above, the basic principle concerning things is that they are pure, whether
it is 100% alcohol or alcohol that has been diluted with water. That is
because we think that the view that alcohol and other intoxicants are not
physically impure, rather they are metaphorically impure because they are an
abomination of the Shaytaan, is more correct.

–        
With regard to
food substances that use a small amount of alcohol in their manufacture in
order to dilute some substances that are not soluble in water, such as
colourings, preservatives and so on, it is permissible to eat them because
it is so hard to avoid that, and because most of the added alcohol
evaporates during the manufacture of the food.

Tawsiyaat an-Nadwah
ath-Thaaminah li’l-Munazzamah al-Islamiyyah li’l-‘Uloom at-Tibbiyyah.
See the text of the statement in full in the book al-Fiqh al-Islamiyyah
wa Adillatuhu (7/209-211) by Shaykh Wahbah az-Zuhayli

And Allah knows best.