Easy Chive Blossom Vinegar Recipe to Flavor Your Summer Salads!
Chives are great sprinkled over scrambled eggs or roasted meat, mixed into soups, dips and sauces and can also be added to herb butter to spice it. The condiment plant of the genus Allium is easy to grow in the garden or in pots on the balcony too, thriving in full sun and in a well-drained soil rich in organic matter. And did you know it’s good for brain health too? Not to mention that its blossoms are edible and can also be used in the kitchen! Or you can use them directly to make chive blossom vinegar!
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Why Prepare Chive Blossom Vinegar?
Chive blossom vinegar is a wonderful aroma-infused condiment that can add signature flavor to any fresh or cooked vegetable salad or become the perfect base for an utterly sublime sauce. It can also be used into marinades, as it boasts an onion-like flavor that is more delicate than the one of ordinary bulbs
A Quick and Easy Recipe for Next to Nothing!
What’s more, making chive blossom vinegar is as easy as 1-2-3, and the whole process takes just 5 minutes! Here’s my favorite recipe for 24 servings, each with 3 calories and no fat or carbohydrates.
How to Make Chive Blossom Vinegar?
In general, there are two different methods to prepare chive blossom vinegar. For the quick method, you need to heat the vinegar (do not bring it to a boil), pour it over the flowers and let it steep for three days. However, in my opinion, the longer method is better, as it results in a more strongly flavored end product of excellent quality.
Ingredients
It’s certainly worth the effort, and I’m sharing the recipe with you, which involves infusing the flowers in vinegar at room temperature for two weeks. By the way, you can use this same method to flavor it with other herbs too. So, without further ado, here’s the list of ingredients:
- 1 cup freshly picked chive blossoms
- 1 1/2 cups white wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup chopped chive leaves (optional)
- Mortar and pestle
- Jar with lid (or a glass bottle with cap)
- Fine sieve
Directions
Gather all the necessary ingredients and tools and place the chive blossoms in the mortar. For best results, work in 2 or 3 batches. Crush the flowers with the pestle to release their fragrance and flavor. Put them in a clean glass jar (it is not necessary to sterilize it beforehand) without packing them.
Pour the vinegar over the chive blossoms until they are completely submerged in the liquid. Stir well with a spoon so that all the flowers are in contact with the vinegar. Close the jar tightly and label it with the date. Store at room temperature, away from direct light or heat, for two weeks.
In 2 weeks, strain the vinegar through a fine sieve to remove any leftovers and transfer the liquid to a nice bottle of your choice. Compost or discard spent flowers and tightly cap the bottle after each use.
A Few Tips to Know
For best results, pick chive blossoms when they are fully open, but have not yet begun to wilt and form seeds.
White wine vinegar works best with the chive flavor, but you can also use red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
Variations of the Recipe
If you prefer, you can add fresh chive leaves to the flowers for a more intense onion flavor. You might as well try this recipe using garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) which are white and have a strong garlic flavor. For your information, it blooms later in the year than regular chives.
