This is one of the easiest ways I know of to stock your pantry with something delicious and beautiful. Making herb vinegars can take less than 10 minutes to do (then a couple of weeks to steep), and they make great gifts too! A few months ago, I found these gorgeous apothecary jars at an antique store and was saving them for just the right purpose. This morning, while Carole and I were enjoying our coffee outside on the back porch, we noticed that our herb pots were overflowing with tarragon, sage, basil, oregano, thyme and parsley, so I decided to cut them and make vinegar.
I used 2 quarts of distilled vinegar (for the larger jar) and filled that with tarragon and a few black pepper corns for a traditional tarragon vinegar and then used 1 quart of apple cider vinegar (organic and distilled locally by a family who owns a large apple orchard) for a mixed herb batch. All of it took less than 10 minutes. Now they go into the pantry (aka a dark, cool place) to steep for a week or two so that their flavors can develop. We'll use them for salads all summer and fall.
