My Adventures with Tarragon Dressing

I decided to make the wonderful tarragon dressing which is served at the House Without A Key restaurant. I checked three supermarkets and couldn't find the ready made Tarragon vinegar so the next option was to make the vinegar from scratch.  I google-d "how to make tarragon vinegar" and this is what came up. I'll let you know the results.

Devoid Of Culture And Indifferent To The Arts: Gardening & Recipe: Homemade Tarragon Vinegar: "Ah me! Love can not be cured by herbs. – Ovid The star of this post (centre). Photo: apple_pathway, Flickr ccl File this under 'news yo..."

After shopping for fresh cut tarragon at various supermarkets and discovering that it was an outrageous price (something like $45/lb.) about $2.20 for a tiny packet, I decided to look for a plant.  The recipe did not state what kind of Tarragon to buy.  So I looked up a few more recipes which said to use French Tarragon but if not in season, you could sub Mexican Tarragon.  The Mexican variety was the only kind I could find at Lowe's. I believe this 4" plant was only $1.40 and I have a plant leftover!

I used the entire bottle of white wine vinegar which came out to be approximately 1 2/3 cup.  I put it in a sauce pan and brought it almost to a boil, then turned off the heat.

The recipe did not state whether one cup of tarragon was with the stem or without but when I looked at the picture, the stems seemed to be still attached so I left  them on and pat them dry...sort of.   It was too hard to measure out 1 cup of tarragon this way so I just eyeballed it.

I placed all of the stems into the sterilized jar, bruising some with a wooden spoon before pouring in all of the heated vinegar.  Then I jumped back on the computer to see if I was supposed  to cover it while it was still hot or wait till it cooled down.  I had to google another recipe to find my answer and it was to cover while still hot.  This second recipe says to let cool for 2 hours before placing in fridge for 1 week.  I think I'll do that instead of leaving it in a dark cupboard for 2 - 3 weeks as stated in this recipe.  I'll let you know how it tastes before turning it into the Tarragon dressing.  I can't wait.