Chive Blossom Vinegar
Growing chives? Harvest the flowers and make chive blossom vinegar! Use this floral vinegar in a homemade vinaigrette!
Servings: 8 1 oz servings
Calories: 4kcal
Ingredients
- ½ cup chive blossoms (fully open or partially open, both will work)
- ¾ cup white wine vinegar OR champagne vinegar
- peel from about half a lemon (preferably organic)
Instructions
- Clean the flowers by dipping the chive blossoms into a bowl of water, and set aside to dry.Optional: Heat the vinegar until it's warm. Do not bring it to a boil.Tip: Heating the vinegar will help the blossoms infuse more quickly, but will produce a slightly less delicate flavor than room temperature vinegar.
- Use kitchen shears to remove any green chives from the flowers. Add the flowers to a clean glass jar, and muddle them with a cocktail muddler or the back of a wooden spoon.
- Pour the vinegar over the flowers into the jar until the jar is almost full. (The amount of vinegar listed is approximate, you may need slightly more or less.)Place the lemon peel on top of the flowers to help keep them submerged.
- Seal the jar, and place it in a cool place out of direct sunlight. Check on the vinegar daily to make sure the blossoms are still submerged.Allow the blossoms to infuse for anywhere from 3 days (if you used warm vinegar), or 3-5 weeks (for room temperature vinegar), until you like the flavor. Note that even warm vinegar infusions can be infused for 3-5 weeks. It all depends on your flavor preferences.Finally, strain out and discard (or compost) the blossoms and lemon peel. Store the vinegar in a sealed jar in the fridge, and use within 6-8 months.
Notes
Doubling or Tripling the Recipe:
Use the measurements as a guide, not a rule. In general, pack the chive blossoms into a jar and fill the jar with vinegar. If you use more blossoms your infusion will be stronger, and fewer blossoms will give you a milder infusion.
Do not double or triple the lemon peel. While it will add some flavor, its main job is to hold the flowers under the liquid. Vinegar Substitutions:
I recommend using white wine or champagne vinegar.
If all you have on hand is apple cider vinegar, it will work, but the flavor of the chive blossoms will be less distinctive (because ACV has a strong flavor).
If you use rice vinegar, you should infuse the vinegar in the fridge and expect the infusion to take slightly longer. Rice vinegar's lower acidity level makes it unsafe to infuse at room temperature.
Avoid using white distilled vinegar, because it's too astringent-tasting.
Use the measurements as a guide, not a rule. In general, pack the chive blossoms into a jar and fill the jar with vinegar. If you use more blossoms your infusion will be stronger, and fewer blossoms will give you a milder infusion.
Do not double or triple the lemon peel. While it will add some flavor, its main job is to hold the flowers under the liquid. Vinegar Substitutions:
I recommend using white wine or champagne vinegar.
If all you have on hand is apple cider vinegar, it will work, but the flavor of the chive blossoms will be less distinctive (because ACV has a strong flavor).
If you use rice vinegar, you should infuse the vinegar in the fridge and expect the infusion to take slightly longer. Rice vinegar's lower acidity level makes it unsafe to infuse at room temperature.
Avoid using white distilled vinegar, because it's too astringent-tasting.
Nutrition
Calories: 4kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 1g | Sodium: 2mg | Potassium: 9mg | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 1mg