Making tarragon vinegar, your experiences?

June 20, 2004 8:09 PM

Making tarragon vinegar, your experiences?

Garden has mutant nuclear-power-plant tarragon taking over everything, and I need another way to make use of it.

So, to make the vinegar, do I:

--let the springs dry for up to 5 days, or just plop 'em right in?
--boil the vinegar first, or use it right from the bottle?
--steep the tarragon vinegar in a jar somewhere, first, then strain it into bottles, or just make it right in the bottle?
--use sterile glassware, or just any old thing?

I've gotten conflicting answers from a variety of sources. Your personal experiences, and conflicting answers, will be appreciated.

posted by gimonca to food & drink (7 comments total)

The wiff says:

- plop them right in.
- boil the vinegar first ("really?" yep.)
- you can make it right in the bottle.
- use sterile glassware ("like from the dishwasher?" yep.) (or boiling water into the bottles, let them sit for 5m.)

So sayeth she. And I've partaken of her flavoured vinegars and lived to tell the tale, so she must have it right.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:11 PM on June 20, 2004

...then cap tightly, and set the bottle on the windowsill for 4 weeks, shaking gently once a day.

Use white distilled vinegar, cider or wine vinegar- white wine vinegar goes well with tarragon.

Then make some Green Goddess.
posted by obloquy at 9:46 PM on June 20, 2004

Geez. For a moment there, I thought you were recommending Green Dragon!
posted by five fresh fish at 10:12 PM on June 20, 2004

Tarragon vinegar isn't just for salads either - it's lovely on plain broiled fish, for example. And you don't need to put a whole ton in the bottle - the herb has such a strong flavor.
posted by CunningLinguist at 4:49 AM on June 21, 2004

fff has it in one, in my experience. Just make sure everything is clean (boil, etc...) and you're golden.
posted by bonehead at 5:47 AM on June 21, 2004

Alton Brown has a complete recipe. He recommends a dunk in bleach water first then a rinse to kill any microbes. The recipe looks good.
posted by plinth at 10:33 AM on June 21, 2004

FFF's wiff has it in one, not FFF. I'd never have thought that vinegar needs boiling.
posted by five fresh fish at 11:22 AM on June 21, 2004