In my last post, I promised to share an easy way to use an over-abundance of fresh herbs from your garden and here it is: homemade herbal vinegar.

I just love these and they make beautiful house-warming gifts!

This is all there is to it:

• Fresh herbs, rinsed well and dried well – handle them gently here – you don’t want to crush their oils out of them before you make the vinegar
• Vinegar – I prefer white wine vinegar or rice vinegar, which you can get seasoned (with salt and sugar) or not seasoned. Both of these are light-tasting vinegar that will show off the color of whatever herbs you add to them
• Bottles or jars with lids, a pan, a chopstick or wood skewer, and a funnel

Using a chopstick or skewer, pack your fresh herbs into a clean bottle. In a pan, bring your vinegar to a boil & turn off heat. Using a funnel, fill the bottle with the hot vinegar. (Be careful!). Cap and let sit at least for 3-5 days before using, though it’s usually a few weeks before the flavor truly develops. Herbs that I’ve tried that work great with this: Tarragon, Purple Basil, Green Basil, Thyme & Rosemary. But feel free to experiment with different herbs and combinations. I’ve seen where people also add dried chile’s to their mix, but I never have.

Purple basil is one of my favorites for this – the flavor is great and the color that’s created with the fresh basil and vinegar is gorgeous.

What do you do with your plethora of summer herbs?