Linderhof's Tarragon Vinegar

French tarragon grows in the garden at Linderhof -- one of our favorite herbs -- snippets are often used in chicken dishes and almost always in chicken salads.
But we have another use for tarragon as well -- in vinegar to make winter salads taste better.
We first start with a good white wine vinegar -- which we make ourselves. The vinegar crocks -- one red and one white sit on the windowsill. Into the jars go those dips and dregs of wine left in a bottle and if a guest leaves a half empty glass -- into the crock that goes as well.

The red we use as is but we like to take the white wine vinegar, add tarragon from the herb garden and steep.
Some great old French bottles make the perfect bottle for steeping. A couple of nice handfuls of tarragon into each bottle, then fill to the top with vinegar.
I put it in a sunny windowsill to steep for a few weeks before we put it into the pantry to store for winter salads.
I love the summer kitchen with herbs in a jar on the windowsill and herbs in bottles of vinegar steeping.

Sometimes we give a bottle as a gift and if we do, we take out the original herbs and put a couple of sprigs of fresh tarragon in. It makes for a nicer presentation, I think.