Just how inexpensive is it to make herb vinegar? (*plus* my Chive Blossom Vinegar)

(Once again, Saturday's post is going up a little early. But maybe that's a good thing, as you can now plan making herb vinegar into your weekend?)

A gallon of white vinegar costs me $2.49, that's 62 cents per quart, or about 38 cents per 20-ounce bottle. You may find white vinegar for less in your area.



I grow a variety of herbs, both in pots on the deck, and in the garden down below. I make flavored vinegars with many of my herbs. One of my favorites is Rosemary Vinegar. It's delicate rosemary flavor makes a delicious vinaigrette for salads, but I also enjoy it mixed with mayo for a cole slaw dressing.

My herbs are mostly free at this point. Many I started from a packet of seeds. Some I received as divisions from friends. And one or two I actually bought plants at the nursery. My chives I bought as a plant, 22 years ago, and dug up and moved with us to our home 18 years ago. Over the years I have divided it numerous times, so that now I have 4 nice little patches of chives.

So, let's say that the "cost" of my herbs is about 1 cent per batch of vinegar infusion. I reuse bottles year after year. Some of these bottles are repurposed food/sauce bottles, with a cork for a cap. Other bottles were gifts from a friend. And a couple of bottles were purchased either second hand, for about 50 cents per bottle, or retail for about $2 per bottle. Given that I reuse these bottles for years one end, even a $2 bottle will average out to about 20 cents/year after 10 years (and I expect to get many more than 10 years of service from each bottle).

For the sake of argument, we'll add 20 cents for the bottle to the 38 cents (for 20 oz. vinegar), plus 1 cent cost of herbs to the cost of making herb vinegar. So, for a total of 59 cents I can make 20 oz. of beautiful and delicious herb and fruit vinegars (I make berry vinegars as well).

With shop-bought flavored vinegar, you can spend as little as about $3 per bottle, or as much as $20. And a single bottle of shop-bought herb vinaigette salad dressing will set you back between $3 and $5. You can make your own herb vinaigrette for the cost of oil, a pinch of salt and dash of pepper, added to your homemade herb vinegar.

Home-infused herb vinegars keep for a couple of years. I alternate years on which vinegars I make. And I like to experiment, mixing different herbs and spices for new, interesting combinations.

One last thing . . .

herb vinegars are incredible easy to make!!!!!

Here's this month's vinegar, Chive Blossom Vinegar. (for details on making other herb vinegars, see here)  Chives are blossoming heavily this month in my garden. And I like to use the blossoms as well as the greens in recipes.

To make a bottle of Chive Blossom Vinegar, fill a clean jar 2/3 with rinsed and dried chive blossoms. (Spin them out in a salad spinner.)

If you don't have a full 2/3 of a jar of opened blossoms just yet, but you can see that there will be more in a couple of days, you can rinse and store what blossoms you do have in a salad spinner in the fridge for up to 4 days (then pick and wash the rest in 4 days time, for one jar of vinegar). Alternatively, you can make several smaller batches of infused vinegar, over the course of a month or two.

If your chive blossoms are already spent, you can try cutting an area of your chives back, to produce more blooms. This works in my garden, but I keep it watered all summer long.

After you have all the rinsed blossoms in the jar, fill with white vinegar. Cap the jar and wait 1 to 2 weeks. During this time, twice a day, open the jar and poke the blossoms back down into the vinegar.

one week later

After 1 week, you'll have a mild onion-y vinegar. Another 3-7 days and you'll have a slightly more intense vinegar.

Your vinegar is now complete. Strain the vinegar and decant into a clean bottle.

You can make the bottle look "fancy" for gifting, with a single strand of raffia and a tag.

Chive Blossom Vinegar has a delicate onion-y flavor. It's delicious on green salads in vinaigrette, but also, I found it to be a wonderful substitute for rice wine vinegar in many recipes. I make an Asian chicken salad that normally calls for rice wine vinegar. I subbed my Chive Blossom Vinegar for the rice wine vinegar all winter long (saving me a couple of dollars on rice wine vinegar). This vinegar is also wonderful sprinkled over fish and chips, or used in any savory recipe that calls for vinegar.