23 February 2008

Herb Vinegars

Wow! It's been a week since I've posted and an extremely busy week at that. That's OK though since the week has flown by.....that makes it one week closer to Spring!

Do you ever make and use herb vinegars? I love making vinegars and using in all types of cooking. You can use herb vinegar in any recipe that calls for regular vinegar. I use most often in salad dressing mixed with olive oil and some sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. MMMMMMM! Also drizzled over meats before cooking, in deviled eggs, potato salad, just anything that calls for vinegar. The additional flavor of whatever herb used is a bonus to the dish. The bottles also look pretty sitting around the kitchen and make people think you are an expert chef!
A few of my favorite herbs to add are rosemary, parsley, salad burnet, and chives. Chive blossoms make the vinegar the prettiest pink color. I also like basil and if you use one of the purple basil varities, the vinegar takes on the most awesome ruby color and is so pretty sitting in the windowsill.
CHIVE BLOSSOM VINEGAR WITH ROSEMARY SPRIGS
How To Make Herbal Vinegars...........
Just take fresh herbs and bruise them by crunching between your finger and insert in a wide-mouth glass container. I use glass canning jars. Then fill the jar with vinegar. I use white vinegar so the herbs can add their natural color. Cover the jar with plastic wrap secured with a rubberband. ( Do not use anything metal.) Now let the vinegar set for up to a month or so and every so often you can shake the jar a little to kind of mix it up. Strain the mixture to remove all the fine bits of herbs. I actually strain through coffee filters. Get some pretty bottles, cut some more of the fresh herbs and insert a couple sprigs into the bottle for decoration. Pour in the herb vinegar and cap with a cork. Voila!

6 comments:

  1. My friend Brenda makes these!

    The ones in your picture that are ruby colored are so pretty!

    Been missin' ya!

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  2. Beautiful......and just look at the Eiffel Tower bottle, now that's awesome for a French inspired kitchen and toile. I bet you are a great cook too!

    Thanks for the tutorial - I'll make some this Spring.

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  3. Lovely post! Our local herb society got together and made herbal vinegars a few years ago. We used champagne vinegar (one of the members' husband was in the wine biz--National Wine & Spirits). Our fave...cranberry rosemary vinegar. I personally made a huge batch in late fall and gave them out for Christmas gifts. They looked so seasonal. Another tip we took from Mr. Wine...buying the plasticy cork covers for sealing the bottles. You put them in water, slide them over the top of the bottle and as they dry, you get a shrink wrap seal to the top. Well...I seemed to have blathered on here. Your post brought back great memories.

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  4. Love your post! Your pictures are so pretty!

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  5. Just beautiful...especially against the rosy red toile.

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  6. You have a great blog, so glad you stopped by. I love cooking w/ herbs. I'll stop by often, Theresa

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