Flavor Infused Vinegar with FREE Printable Hang Tags

We’re thrilled to have a new guest blogger, Amy Prentice. Amy is a marketing manager whose first love is gardening and nature photography. She gardens in a small suburban backyard in Northeastern Oklahoma (AKA Green Country). Her favorite things to grow and preserve are herbs and peppers. Her dog, Scarecrow, loves to help out in the garden by stalking bunnies and eating as many tomatoes as she can get away with. Follow Amy on Instagram.

As the weather finally starts to feel like fall and the nights and mornings get colder, I feel a sense of urgency to harvest the last of the warm weather herbs and peppers. I don’t want any of them to go to waste, so it’s a rush to preserve as much as possible. One of my favorite ways to do that is infusing them into vinegar.

Vinegar is one of the most healthy and versatile culinary items to have on hand in the kitchen. Several ways you can use vinegar are:

• Creating your own salad dressings
  
• Mixing up homemade marinades
  
• Enhancing the flavor of fish
  
• Tenderizing and flavoring meats
  
• Making homemade BBQ sauce
  
• Preserving foods

While vinegar is great, flavored vinegar is amazing! Especially when the flavors have been added by using fresh herbs or produce from the garden.

Infusing vinegar is an easy way to use up extra herbs from your garden while preserving those fresh flavors long after the gardening season has ended and the last tender herbs have succumbed to frost. In the process, you will be creating something truly unique with delicious flavor combinations to enhance your cooking or to give away as handmade gifts.

Download our FREE printable herb hang tags to decorate your vinegar bottles.

Here is what you will need to get started: 

• fresh, clean herbs or peppers, garlic, onions, berries, etc.
  
• a few bottles of vinegar - white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, rice vinegar, or champagne vinegar work best
  
• a wide-mouthed glass jar with a plastic lid
  
• something to strain the finished product with, such as cheesecloth 
  
• a small bottle to pour the infusion into when it’s done 
  
• our FREE printable herb hang tags, jute twine or herb labels

From left to right, vinegar infused with peppers, mint, purple & Italian basil

Steps:

• Sterilize your jars and bottles and wash your herbs and produce very well. Make sure everything is completely dry so you don’t end up with a lot of water in your infusion.
• Fill up your wide-mouthed jar loosely with the fresh ingredients. No need to pack them down.
• Pour the vinegar over the ingredients leaving enough head space to stir. Be sure to use mild vinegars that won’t overpower the flavor of the herbs. I like white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, and champagne vinegar best for infusing.
• You can heat the vinegar until just boiling before adding it to the jar to bring out more of the flavor, but I rarely do. I have used hot vinegar and unheated vinegar and found that both work well in bringing out the flavor of the herbs.  
• Cover the jar with a plastic lid, and shake it each day to keep it mixed up. In about a week, taste your infusion to see if it’s strong enough for your liking. I usually let my mixture infuse for about 2-3 weeks.

• When you have the flavor that you want, strain the mixture through a strainer. I usually strain it one or two more times through cheesecloth to make sure I get the smallest bits of plant material out of the vinegar.  
• Pour into a decorative bottle with a cap or cork. You can also repurpose the bottle that the vinegar came in originally. Add a cute FREE Printable herb hang tag or herb label to identify your infusion. 

Download our FREE printable herb hang tags to decorate your vinegar bottles.

Infused vinegar can vary in color depending on your contents. Pepper or garlic chives typically yield a yellowish vinegar. If you add a few leaves of purple basil to  Italian basil, the vinegar becomes a lovely pink shade. 

Flavor Ideas:

1. Basil: Different types of basil yield a variety of flavors. I like to use an Italian basil or lemon basil or even a mixture of the two. Add in a few leaves of a purple basil variety to create a pretty pink color.  Experiment with the varieties you grow in your garden. White wine vinegars are perfect for basil infusions. 
   
2. Peppermint: Mint infused into a champagne vinegar creates a refreshing, mild flavor that works really well in salad dressings. I grow candy peppermint in my garden which imparts a lovely, sweet minty flavor.
   
3. Garlic Chive Blossoms or Purple Chive Blossoms: If you grow either of these plants, you know that they make a ton of flowers. I have used both to infuse white wine vinegar, but anything with a strong garlic flavor is also great in red wine vinegar infusions. Garlic Chives start blooming big time for me in later summer into early fall. They have huge white flowers, and if I don’t use them up, they go to seed and become quite invasive. Garlic chive flowers are very strong.  You may not want to let them infuse for longer than a week. Purple chive blossoms, which bloom in the spring, are more mild.  
   
4. Hot Peppers: Add a kick to your infusion. Chop your favorite hot pepper into large chunks and use them to add heat and pepper flavor to your vinegar. This makes a delicious, spicy infusion.

Other ideas:

• Lemon verbena
  
• Lemon Balm
  
• Garlic cloves
  
• Sage
  
• Thyme

Experiment with the herbs you have and see what you like. You can also make combination flavors. Try combining rosemary, sage, and garlic in red wine for a savory flavor enhancer. You can also infuse vinegar with fruits like peaches and berries mixed with complementary herbs like mint or lemon balm.

Label your vinegar infusions with our herb canning labels.

Gift Ideas:

These make great holiday or hostess gifts on their own dressed up with a FREE Printable herb hang tag in a whimsical vinegar bottle, but here are some other ideas for gifting these tasty concoctions.

Include a bottle of vinegar with a wooden salad bowl set or some small decorative salad plates for the salad lover in your family. Add a FREE Printable Recipe Card for a salad dressing that uses the vinegar.

Create a BBQ themed gift with a pepper vinegar, some homemade spice rub and a BBQ sauce recipe that incorporates the vinegar you made.

Make a sampler gift. Create 3 of your favorite flavored vinegars and add to smaller decorative bottles for a sampler set. Include an idea card about how to use each flavor.

Shop for herb & spice jar labels in our shop.

Read our other blog post about how to Grow and Create Your Own Italian Seasoning Blend.

Read our other blog post on Growing Cilantro for Coriander.

Read our other blog post on How to Grow an Herbal Tea Garden

Read our blog post on How to Make Green Onion Powder

Looking for more info on growing, drying, & cooking with herbs? Follow our NEW Herb Gardening Tips & Recipes Pinterest Board.

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Do you make your own flavored vinegars? Share your ideas and recipes for your favorite ways to use infused vinegars in the comments below.