Preserving doesn’t have to be a lot of work – it can, and often should be, very little work.
Our ancestors didn’t have 8-day work weeks, more time in the day or less to worry about – many had to focus on surviving. Time was as much a currency then as it is now although we’ve forgotten many of the techniques that they used to prepare awesome tasting food in moments and we claim we don’t have the time. We have 3 options – create longer days, eat sub-standard food (taste and health) or bring back some easy ‘tricks’ from the past. That’s an easy choice from my perspective.
I bought wonderful chives at the market yesterday. Many had beautiful little bulbs at the end like they were ready to flower. I used the flowers to make this super-easy infused vinegar.
Here’s how to do it:
- Clean everything well (i.e. chives and the bottle you will use for the infusion).
- Place the chives in the bottle (choose a bottle that seals air-tight or be prepared to put a layer of plastic wrap to seal it.
- cover with vinegar (I strained mine for aesthetic reasons as a mother had begun to form in it). I used a white wine vinegar.
- Seal and place in fridge for 2 weeks.
- After 2 weeks, strain the vinegar to remove the chives.
- Keep in fridge and use within 6 months.
This will be used in cooking, stir-frys and especially in salad dressings.
The total time in preparing was less than 5 minutes – and i can’t wait to see how it turns out!
