• pine shoots
• fennel
• elderflower
• lovage
• tarragon
• ginger
• elderberry
There is no measured recipe to this section other than put things in vinegar! The pine shoot vinegar is definitely my favourite over the years. I have also made apricot and ginger, lovage and parsley, elderflower, elderberry… you can add peppercorns, rosemary, bay leaves, garlic or citrus peel, if you like.
I fill about half of the jar with my chosen ingredients and then fill with white wine, cider or red wine vinegar to the brim. I usually use white wine vinegar as I feel the flavours of the ingredients come through more. Make sure your jars are sterilized (see page 280).
Leave somewhere dark for about two weeks, shaking the jar every few days. If using delicate ingredients, such as fruit or flowers, then strain the vinegar at this point and store without the fruit or flowers in it. However, ingredients such as pine or garlic or woody herbs can stay in and will only improve the flavour. They all keep for at least a year.
These flavoured vinegars are great used in salad dressings, such as tarragon vinegar on a roast chicken salad, or even to make a béarnaise sauce, or elderflower vinegar in a dressing over melon and cured ham. You can also add a splash of elderberry at the end of a game stew or some peach or fennel vinegar into slow-braised pork. Add a teaspoon to the end of a fruit compote to lift the flavours; ginger is great in a strawberry or rhubarb compote. I like the pine shoot vinegar in a cocktail, just a dash, along with many of the others, such as ginger, fennel, elderflower…