French Tarragon grows like mad in my herb garden and it makes a lovely salad vinegar.
Summer & Autumn is a great time to make this vinegar as I have plenty of tarragon, thyme, garlic and chilli growing in the garden.
You can buy a 500ml bottle of white wine vinegar from the supermarket but I buy a really nice French Vinegar for $4.75 from the wholesale deli near my house, The Melbourne Deli (Box Hill), and it has a nice French label on it so it looks great if you are giving it as a gift.
The recipe I use comes from my trusty preserving book by Oded Swartz – highly recommended. Once you make this salad vinegar you will never buy salad dressing again.
This vinegar makes a beautiful homemade gift – and cheap if you’ve grown the herbs yourself!
Just a few simple ingredients
Recipe
500ml Bottle White Wine Vinegar (keep the bottle)
1 Sprig of tarragon
1 Sprig of Thyme
1 Fresh or Dried Chilli (optional – but gives it a nice kick)
1 Garlic Clove
1 Tsp black peppercorns
1. Put the vinegar in a non-corrosive pot and bring to the boil for 1 – 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool to 40C.
2. Wash the herbs if necessary, then dry well and slightly bruise with the flat side of a wide bladed knife. Cut a long slit in the chilli if using.
3. Put the tarragon, thyme, chilli and peppercorns back into the original (sterilized) vinegar bottle. Pour in the warm vinegar, then seal (or screw the lid back on). Shake the bottles occasion during storage to blend the ingredients. The vinegar will be ready to use in about 3 weeks.
Tip: Its a good idea to make this vinegar in bulk during Summer and Autumn so you have a years supply on hand as French tarragon, although a perennial, dies down in winter. The shelf life for this vinegar is about 2 years. You could make a big batch now and store it for Christmas gifts, by that time the vinegar flavour would be really good.
To use as salad dressing…
Mix 1 tbsp. Tarragon Vinegar with 1tbsp Olive oil, 1 tsp Dijon mustard and cracked pepper in a small jar. Then pour over salad greens.
