So you like to grow herbs. You really like to grow herbs- but you aren’t sure what to do with all the herbs that you grow. There are many ways to use your abundant herb harvest such as: in cooking or in teas; in home-made cordials or bitters; medicinal uses; in skincare items such as soaps and bath salts; for decorative purposes such as dried arrangements; for aromatic or ceremonial purposes such as sage or other herbal smudges or in home-made herbal vinegars. Herbal vinegars are healthy, tasty, attractive and useful in many, many cooking applications. Herbal vinegars also make great gifts.

A herbal vinegar can be made from either a red or white wine vinegar, a cider vinegar, rice vinegar or a champagne vinegar. Although most people are familiar with the common white distilled vinegar, that is best used for cleaning coffee pots and other home cleaning tasks. We now make our own wine vinegar that we infuse with our herbs. Before we made our vinegar we purchased a good quality wine vinegar and used that as a base. Making your own wine vinegar might sound a little far-fetched but it is actually quite easy. It will probably also have better flavor and aroma and you will know what ingredients went into it and you will have control over the entire process. It is also very fun and rewarding and enables you to get back to some “earthy basics”.

Making a Herbal Vinegar- To make your herbal vinegar you will need a glass quart jar, some plastic cling-wrap, a rubber band, 2 cups of wine vinegar and 1 cup of fresh herb sprigs. While fresh are always more desirable for most applications, dried herbs can also be used when making herbal vinegar in the winter months. If dried herbs are to be used, reduce amount to one-half cup. Various herbs can be used such tarragon, basil, opal basil, oregano, sage, dill, rosemary, chives, thyme or any desired combination. We really like the taste of tarragon for our herbal vinegar. Sometimes we add a sprig of opal basil to get a nice light rose color.

Start by crushing the herb sprigs slightly with your hands to help release the oils and aroma. Put the sprigs into the glass jar and pour the vinegar over the herbs making sure all the sprigs are covered with the vinegar. If dried herbs are used, put them into a sanitized muslin bag before putting them into the jar. Try to crush the dried herbs as little as possible to minimize the amount of particles in the vinegar. Do not heat the vinegar or it will become cloudy. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the mouth of the jar and secure with a rubber band. Store the jar in a dark place for up to a month. Shake the jar periodically to help extract the maximum flavor from the herbs- always making sure the vinegar completely covers the herbs. After the first two weeks it might be a good idea to taste the vinegar to see if the flavor is the strength you desire.

When the desired flavor is reached the contents of the jar need to be run through a strainer to remove the herb sprigs and particles. To do this we put a large coffee filter inside a kitchen strainer or colander and put the strainer inside a bowl or something with a pouring spout. Pour the contents of the jar into the filter. After all the liquid has run through the strainer, you can fold the filter around the herbs and squeeze to remove as much liquid as possible. The next and final step is to bottle the vinegar.

Vinegar bottles should have somewhat long and narrow necks. Even though the liquid has gone through a coffee filter, chances are good that there is some residual mother culture in the finished product. This mother culture might eventually form a gelatinous “plug” on top of the vinegar. The narrower the neck of the bottle, the smaller the plug will be. If a plug does form it can either be poured out or extracted with a fondue fork or other such narrow skewer. Keep in mind that this mother culture is absolutely harmless if ingested. Before filling, the bottles should first be sanitized. Bottles should be filled to within one-half to three-quarters of an inch of the top. Screw-top bottles can either be sealed with their screw caps or clean, sanitized corks. Non screw-top bottles need to be sealed with sanitized corks. It is always a good idea to label the bottles with the date of filling. For gifts, the bottles can have a personalized hand-made or computer generated label. The sealed bottles should be stored in a cool dark place- a basement fruit or root cellar would be ideal. Herbal vinegars can be kept for years and actually improve with age- just like the wine they were made from.

Making your own wine vinegar- Making wine vinegar requires a container, either some red or white wine, some water and some acetic acid bacteria. This harmless and beneficial bacteria is what actually transforms the wine into vinegar. The container can be an actual vinegar crock or simply a wide-mouth gallon sized glass jar. An actual vinegar crock has the advantages of being made of ceramic instead of clear glass. This is desirable because the transformation of wine into vinegar requires a dark environment. The vinegar crock also has a loose-fitting cover and a dispensing spigot located an inch or so off the bottom of the container. This allows easy removal of the finished vinegar without disturbing any residue that might be on the bottom of the container or the mat that forms on the surface of the liquid in the container. Also, vinegar crocks tend to have nice visual appeal. Vinegar crocks, however are a little difficult to find and they can be somewhat expensive- perhaps in the $100 range. A gallon sized glass jar certainly can be used and is the simplest and least expensive way to go. A new jar can be purchased from various internet sites but they typically have to be ordered in cases of four. Also shipping can get somewhat expensive. A very inexpensive and earth-friendly way to go is to ask your favorite restaurant, pub or tavern to set one aside for you when they have an empty. Such food preparing establishments get many food items such as pickles, olives, mushrooms in wide-mouth gallon, glass jars.

Conversion of wine into vinegar requires an acetic acid bacteria. This is also commonly called a starter, mother, mother of vinegar or mother culture. Typically making a red wine vinegar requires a red mother culture and a white wine vinegar requires a white mother culture. Ether of these is commonly available in an 8 ounce jar from a homebrewing store. In Madison, WI the Wine and Hop Shop is located on Monroe Street. Cultures are also available online from mail order stores such as Northern Brewer in St. Paul, MN. Perhaps the greatest difficulty in making wine vinegar is parting with perfectly drinkable bottle of wine. With a gallon container, 1-2 bottles would be a good amount to start with. A less painful approach might be to save unused wine (if such a thing exists) from a previously opened bottle. This wine could be collected in the gallon jar and when there is 2-3 quarts, pitch in the mother culture. The mother culture prefers wine in the 9-10% alcohol range. If your wine is higher than this it can be diluted with an amount of water. We normally use wine that is approximately 13% and for each bottle of wine we add one-half bottle of water.

To start, make sure the container you are using is very clean and sanitized. Fill the container at least half full of the wine and water and then add the mother culture. The acetic acid bacteria need air to convert the wine into vinegar so make sure the container is covered but not with an air-tight lid. This could be accomplished with a saucer that is slightly larger than the container opening. We use a coffee filter secured to the top of the container with a rubber band. If the container is a clear glass jar, it needs to be put in a dark place to have the bacteria perform the conversion adequately and not have the vinegar degraded by light. Also, optimum conversion temperature is 75 to 85 degrees. Conversion will occur at lower temperatures but it will take more time. Higher temperatures risk killing the bacteria. When we used to make vinegar in a glass jar we put the jar in a kitchen cupboard where it was dark and the temperature as close to optimum as possible. After all this is done, just sit back and relax and allow those beautiful little acetic acid bacteria to do their thing.

There are two basic ways to determine if the vinegar is done. One is perform what is called a titration test. This can be accomplished with a relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use kit available from homebrewing stores. The other means is to perform a simple taste test. I am pretty sure this is the method used by European and early American housewives for centuries. The finished product should taste like a robust vinegar and not like the original wine. Once you know your vinegar-venture has been successful you can withdraw enough to bottle or to make a herbal vinegar. If you used a vinegar crock, you can merely open the spigot and draw off a bottle or so. If a gallon jar was used, the vinegar can be removed from the jar with a soup ladle. You will probably have to move the mother culture aside to access the vinegar. After the vinegar has been withdrawn, top off the container with more wine and water to continue the process.

Basic Vinaigrette

• one-half cup olive oil
• 3T tarragon vinegar
• 1t Dijon mustard
• salt and fresh-ground pepper

Honey Vinaigrette

• one-half cup olive oil
• 3T tarragon vinegar
• 2t balsamic vinegar
• one and one-half teaspoon dried marjoram
• two and one-half Tablespoons honey
• three-quarters teaspoon salt

Bleu Cheese Vinaigrette

• one and one-half Tablespoon tarragon vinegar
• 1T lowfat yogurt
• 1T fresh tarragon, minced
• 1T fresh chives, minced
• 1t fresh thyme, minced
• 2t honey
• salt and fresh-ground pepper
• 1T bleu cheese, crumbled