chive blossom vinegar.

 

 

I feel a little silly posting this, as there is almost nothing to this recipe. In fact it is not much of a recipe at all.

I posted the above photos on instagram yesterday of the chive blossom vinegar I was making. We seem to always have an abundance of Chive Blossoms upstate; in fact most people who grow chives tend to get over run with them! My stepmother was an avid gardener and her herb garden was her pride and joy. This is where I first leaned about Summer Savory and Lovage and all those off beat herbs. At any given time in the summer she would be making up batches of herbed vinegars, which she sold in the winter at craft fairs or gave to friends during the holidays. I guess I take all this craftiness for granted having grown up with it. There was a moment in the eighties when artisan vinegars were all the rage. Chive blossom was no exception. It was always my favorite because of its beautiful pink color. So her is my non-recipe recipe.

; )

Clip Chive Blossoms from the chives just below the head of the chive.

Wash the chive blossoms in cold water and pat dry

Fill any jar approx 1/3 to 1/2 full of blossoms depending on how much vinegar you are making and set aside

You will want to use a glass lidded canning jar so the vinegar will not come in contact with any metal. If you are unable to find glass lidded jars place some doubled up cheesecloth or wax paper between the lid and the jar while screwing it shut.

Weck jars or Le Parfait Super jars work well. You can also order nice jars from Williams Sonoma Agrarian.

Heat the appropriate amount of white vinegar in a non-reactive pot to fill your jar. Keep the flame on med low.

Once the vinegar is heated pour it into the jar and over the chive blossoms.

Let the blossoms rest and infuse the vinegar for about a week in a cool dark pantry or cupboard.

The vinegar will turn a pretty pink over night but leave the blossoms in for about a week to a month. 

We had a root cellar and a pantry in our old house and all vinegars and canned goods went in there for the duration, sometimes a month or so would pass before we got around to straining out the chives but all was well. 

As long as it is cool and dark it should not be a problem if you forget about it for a bit.

 After you strain your blossoms out your vinegar will have a lovely chive flavor.

Pull it out in the middle of winter and start dreaming of summer!

Discard the blossoms and Store your vinegar.

There you have it!

If you want you can experiment with white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar or some Japanese vinegars; they will all work but the plain old distilled white vinegar will have the prettiest color.

xx

Here are a few links to other chive blossom vinegar posts.

http://food52.com/blog/3592-in-full-bloom-chive-blossom-vinegar

http://leitesculinaria.com/80938/recipes-chive-blossom-vinegar.html

http://www.foodinjars.com/2012/05/recipe-reminder-chive-blossom-vinegar/

 Above photos iphone5

andrea gentl | Comments Off | Share Article

tagged artisan vinegars, chive blossom vinegar, summer in spring, summer

Comments

[maryalice]

So easy! And pretty. I am excited to try this with my overabundance of chive blossoms. Thank you!

[gluttonforlife]

Me, too! Looks amazing. (You are such a wizard with that iPhone - and every other camera!!)

[andrea gentl]

thanks guys! tell me how it turns out!
xxx

[Juliana]

Thank you for this inpiration! We've been eating the flowers in our salad, but we can't seem to keep up! I'd like to try this recipe soon.

[Laura]

gorgeous and inspiring. love it, thank you.

[tg]

do you think any other kind of vinegar would be an option? i find plain white vinegar relatively awful. does it change the flavor that dramatically?

thank youuuu.

[Pamela]

What is the flavor of vinegar like after it matures?