Dandelion Vinegar or Any Vinegar

Dandelions steeping in vinegar

Earlier in the year someone asked me if I had a good recipe for a dandelion vinegar.  I did not, however it got me thinking, how would I make a dandelion vinegar?

Vinegars are made by taking a vinegar of some sorts, adding fresh ingredients to it, letting it sit for a few weeks, straining it, then enjoying it on salad or in cooking.

A bunch of dandelions were on hand so a mason jar was filled half way with the dandelions, a white wine vinegar was then added.  Each day for two weeks the jar was shaken to mix it all up.  After two weeks the dandelions were strained and the results were... a very enjoyable vinegar for salad!

Dandelion vinegar is a lot more flavorful that you would think it would be but it seemed like it could be kicked up a notch.  A few sprigs of mountain mint were picked and were added to the vinegar for three days then removed.  Which resulted in the perfect salad vinegar for spring and summer!

If you want to make a dandelion vinegar then follow those instructions above.  Only use mountain mint if you really like mint and take the amount of days down to two.  If using normal mint, probably best to keep the steep time to two days.  You can always steep it for longer but if you steep if for too long to start you can't undo that.

The general template above can be used to make any type of vinegar your heart desires (blueberry vinegar anyone?).  White wine vinegar is a good blank canvas but you can certainly venture into red wine vinegar or even apple cider vinegar territory if you want.

I have a sneaking suspicion that a minty dandelion apple cider vinegar would be really good but we'll never know if we don't try.

Get creative and get to it!

Note:  If you don't like vinegars on salad you should still try this out.  This is vastly different from store bought vinegars and tastes much much much much much better.  It seriously does but don't take my word for it.  Try it out!