Sometimes you’ve just got to waste a little time doing something because it looks pretty. The vinegar that I started here is going to have a light chive flavor, but not as much as if I used the green part of the chives. What it will have is an intense lavender color.
Nope, you won’t be able to see the color once it’s on a salad. You’ll only see it in the bottle on the table. No, it’s not part of the plant you’d normally use … it’s not the easiest part to harvest … it’s not fast … pretty much no good reason to make this.
Except boy, is it pretty.
Directions
Chives come back each year, something I discovered when I was doing the baked potatoes. After a couple of years, unless you trim them back really hard, you’ll get more than you can use.
My father-in-law has had the same little patch going for several years. When it comes back, it comes in thick and fast and blooms early. He suggested to me that I do the vinegar, and told me I had about two days to come harvest before the bloom dropped. This is what I found.
With a pair of garden shears, clip is close to the bottom of the buds as you can.
As you clip each bud, a little sap will come to the top of the stem. So it’s better to start from the side farther from where you’re standing, then work back towards yourself. Otherwise you’ll get your forearms covered with sap as you keep reaching farther across.
Harvest more than you think you’ll need. The buds shrink a bit as you shove them into the bottle. But more important, if you realize you need more you’re not going to want to go back and harvest more.
On the bottom of each bloom are two little dead petals, that were the outside of the bud before it bloomed. Peel those off.
These buds are a collection tiny little flowers, which means they’re mostly hollow.
That’s why you can squeeze them together and stuff them through the neck of a bottle.
Once you’ve stuffed all the blossoms in, fill the bottle with white vinegar.
Look close, you’ll see that I’m holding the funnel up from the neck of the bottle. If you let it sit right on the bottle and it gets a good seal, the vinegar won’t flow through the funnel smoothly. Holding it up a little allows air in.
Frugal tip Buy white vinegar in the one gallon jug. Keep the jug downstairs, and refill the bottle you keep in the pantry. Vinegar lasts forever.
Yup, holding the funnel up from the neck again.
Put the stopper in the bottle and set it aside for a couple of weeks.
And that’s … the start. It’s been four days since I started this and it’s looking good. I’m going to give it at least two weeks before I try it. Stay tuned …
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10 Comments
Now THAT is freakin’ cool. I don’t think we have enough blossoms on our chives to make it, but maybe next year. Actually, you know what it looks like? Something you’d see in that highly decorative magazine “Real Simple.” Which I generally find to be mostly recommendations for stupid products to buy and recipes involving opening cans (fancy cans, but cans), but it is pretty. And so is that vinegar. It would make a very nice gift, too. You want to send me some? I would be happy to do an unbiased review for your readers.
Are you kidding me? I plan to serve this to people who can tell me right to my face how awesome I am.
It is. How awesome the vinegar is. That’s what I meant to say.
So how about Chicken and Dumplings like Grandma used to make? I’ve really tried, but they are never right…
I’ve actually got a great recipe for it, but summer seems like the wrong time. I’ll tell you what, though. Next time we get a nasty, cold, rainy weekend I’ll do it. And this is Cleveland, so that’s liable to happen any time.
Funnily enough, I had just been wondering if the flowers from chives could be used for anything, and I found your timely post.
I don’t think I’ll have enough to do it this year, but definitely next year. It looks spectacular.
Jan, I wish I had the space to do the garden you’ve got. (I just checked out your blog.) Color me jealous.
Did you try your vinegar yet? I made some also but haven’t tried it yet.
Hey, it’s been two weeks hasn’t it. Thanks for the reminder. Time to see how it’s coming.
Sounds great, shame I just clipped off the flowers thinking they were useless. Maybe next year!
That’s the problem with seasonal recipes. If I do it when it’s in season, by the time I get it posted it’s too late for most everyone else to try it.