Spring Salad Herbs

Spring Salad

The site of spring herbs popping from the ground in spring was a welcome site to people in the pre supermarket era who had little nutritive foods for months over the late winter. These spring herbs or bitters are packed with nutrition and can be enjoyed in salads. Looking around my yard I see tarragon, salad burnett, dandelion, chives and parsley, all of which can be chopped and put on a salad of greens that I buy from the farmers market. There is mustard growing now that would also be great on this salad. The flavors are great and are sure to interest your taste buds.

What herbs do you find for your salads?

Spring Herbal Vinegar

I've been meaning to make some herbal vinegar while the chive blossoms are still here. They turn a vinegar a lovely pink color. I finally got around to it today. I cut some of my favorite herbs from the garden; chive blossoms, roses, tarragon, salad burnett, sage, oregano and red clover. I'm not sure how this will taste but I can't imagine any herb combination not tasting good. This time of year its nice to preserve all these spring herbs by putting them in vinegar. If you want to do this just clip a few herbs and loosely fill a 16 oz jar with herbs. Fill the jar with vinegar. I used white because I wanted the color of the herbs to come through. You can use any mild flavored vinegar though. I wouldn't use red wine or balsamic vinegar though as they might overpower the taste of the herbs.

I like doing different herb vinegars over the summer as tasting them over the winter can bring back those memories of summer. Later in the summer I might do a blend of lavender, calendula, mint, nasturtium and basil or Tulsi. I'll use these vinegars in the winter in my salad dressings. What herbs do you like to preserve in vinegar?