Herb Vinegar and Dried Herbs Preserve the Bounty of the Season

Homegrown herbs are at their peak.

A quick run through any farmers market ( and St. Charles are my favorites) will prove that. Vendors and farmers have fragrant herb bouquets ready for your recipes. My own garden is producing more tarragon, chives, thyme, rosemary and basil than any one cook can use.

Drying herbs is one way to preserve the essence of summer. Home-dried herbs are more flavorful than most anything you can find in the grocery store.

When drying herbs for preservation, washing the herb sprigs is essential. Check for dirt and stowaway insects and shake off excess water and discard any leaves that look damaged or discolored. Place the leaves or sprigs in a single layer on a cookie sheet. The herbs can be dried in the oven.

Place the prepared cookie sheet into the oven, preheated to 180 degrees, for three to four hours. Leave the oven door cracked open to allow moisture to escape. Stir the herb leaves once each hour to ensure even drying.

When the herbs are dry, the leaves should crumble easily. Store the dried herbs in an airtight jar out of direct sunlight. Mason or Ball canning jars are ideal for storage. I prefer to leave the leaves whole and crumble or crush them as needed.

Herbed vinegars are another simple way to preserve you garden bounty. Begin with a good quality white wine or red wine vinegar. Once you get comfortable with flavor combinations, try your hand at infused cider vinegar or rice wine vinegar. The only hard rule is to make certain that whatever vinegar you use has at least five percent acidity.

Decorative bottles are nice for making infused vinegar as gifts. Wine bottles work well, also. Vinegar will react with plastic and metal, so it is wise to stick with glass. During the infusing time (the three to four weeks needed to let the herbs sit in the vinegar), I do use canning jars. I am careful not to splash the vinegar onto the lid or band. Once the herb flavor has been infused into the vinegar (after at least three weeks), I removed the herb sprigs and transfer the vinegar to a decorative bottle.

Again, it is essential to wash the herbs before working with them. Pat the herbs dry to carefully remove any water left on the stem or leaves. Clean and sterilize your jars with boiling water or run them through the dishwasher on the sanitize cycle.

The following recipe makes one cup of infused vinegar. Adjust proportions accordingly if you are making a larger batch. You can use almost any type of herb you have. Infused vinegars are delicious in salad dressing (one part vinegar to two parts oil) or used in any recipe in place of plain vinegar.

Herb Infused Vinegar

Makes one cup

• 1 cup plus ¼ cup white wine vinegar
• 4 2” sprigs of your desired herb

Place the herb sprigs into the bottle.

Heat one cup vinegar in a small saucepan until it just boils. Remove immediately from the heat.

Pour the heated vinegar over the herb sprigs into the jar. Seal the jar and leave undisturbed for at least three weeks.

Some helpful hints for making vinegar:

• Make certain that the herb sprigs are completely covered with vinegar. You can add the additional ¼ cup of vinegar if the herbs appear to soak up too much vinegar.
• After infusing for at least three weeks, I transfer the vinegar into decorative bottles, removing the spent herb sprigs. After several weeks, the herbs give up their vibrant color and I prefer clear vinegar.
• White wine vinegar pairs well with chives and tarragon.
• Red wine vinegar pairs well with thyme and garlic.