One of my favorite things to do in the fall, when nighttime temperatures drop into the 40s and I must harvest the basil before it turns black, is to make herbal vinegars and herbal sugars.
I wander through the garden, harvesting all the basil plants at ground level. Since they are annuals, they will die anyway, so I remove the entire plant. As I go, I also collect any other herbs that need a trim or look large enough to handle another cutting.
This bounty gives me a great opportunity to make herbal vinegars to preserve that fresh herb flavor. Additionally it is a great time to create herb flavored sugar and honey as these are best made with fresh herbs.
I give the herbs a wash and lay them out on the counter on paper towel to air dry. I cannot make any of these items with water wet herbs, so I am harvesting after the dew has lifted, washing as needed and letting them dry completely before I begin work.
My purple basil with the vinegar I made just a few days earlier, already turning that great shade of burgundy. To make herb flavored vinegar you just put fresh herbs in a jar, pour vinegar over them, bruise the herbs, and either warm the vinegar or not and let infuse for two to four weeks. Then strain out the herbs and rebottle for using or gifting. For details on making Herb Vinegar, check out this post on my main blog. To get some vinegar, try this link.
Herb Flavored Sugar
Herb sugar is made by simply layering herb leaves with sugar. I use containers holding about 1 cup of sugar and with these I used Mabel Gray scented geranium leaves to make lemon sugar, Lemon verbena to make very lemon sugar and apple mint to make the best mint sugar for cookies.
To craft herbed honey, you marinade the fresh or dried herbs in honey for one to three weeks. Strain out the herbs and you have a flavored honey that can be used to cook with or to drizzle on toast.
Herb Honey is a wonderful gift, especially if you can find a local beekeeper to get local honey to mix your favors into, then you can have the taste of home to use or share.
We give the details of making herbed honey in this main blog post: How Tuesday Making Summer flavored honey
