Nasturtium Gems
(Page 5 of 5)
August/September 2007
By SUSAN BELSINGER
- Harvest your flowers and herbs on a sunny morning, rinse them if necessary and pat them dry. Bruise them slightly to release their flavor. Fill a clean jar about half to three-quarters full of the flowers and herbs, then cover them with vinegar. Use plastic rather than metal lids because the vinegar’s acid eventually will leach out and corrode the metal. (You can buy plastic lids to fit canning jars if you have only metal lids.) Label the jars.
- Place the jar in a cool, dark place. If you begin steeping the herbs in the vinegar in the morning, you’ll have a mildly flavored vinegar you can use by evening. The longer the vinegar stands—up to 4 weeks—the more flavor it will have. Eventually, however, the flowers and herbs will deteriorate and the flavor will not be as bright. To avoid this, sample your vinegar 10 days to 2 weeks after you mix it, and continue to taste it every few days thereafter.
- When your vinegar has reached its full flavor, strain out the flowers and herbs. Strain the mixture again through coffee filters to achieve a crystal clear vinegar. Using a funnel, pour the vinegar into smaller bottles and label. Store the vinegar in a cool, dark place and use within a year.
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— Contributing editor Susan Belsinger frequently writes and lectures about herbs. She lives in Brookville, Maryland.
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