Tarragon schnapps

Tarragon schnapps - based on fresh tarragon leaves - is sweet, spicy, and highly aromatic with fine notes of liquorice.

It has a beautiful golden colour.

Very good as appetizer.

Serve with chicken, veal, lamb, fish, shellfish, pork, beef, tomatoes, eggs, mushrooms and rice dishes.

Or use the schnapps in soups, barbecue sauces, stews, salad dressings, herb butters, dips, pickles, or mustards - or any other dish, where you would normally use tarragon.

Or - use it to flambé various meat and fish dishes.

Tarragon schnapps blends very well with...
basil schnapps · lemon balm schnapps · lemon thyme schnapps · crabapple schnapps · stinging nettle schnapps.

Also, see how you can easily...
turn your tarragon schnapps into a liqueur.

French tarragon

French tarragon is also known as the King of Herbs.

It's a highly aromatic perennial shrub that grows to a hight of about one meter.

It belongs to the same genus (Artemisia) as wormwood, sea wormwood and southernwood.

It has upright, bushy and branched stems.

The long, dark green leaves are narrow and smooth with oil glands underneath.

The leaves have a wonderful anise or liquorice-like taste and aroma.

The tiny flowers are yellow or greenish. They are almost invisible and do seldom open.

French tarragon is sweeter and has more delicate leaves than its relative, the Russian tarragon (Artemisia dracunculoides).

Russian tarragon has coarser and paler leaves, and a pungent, unpleasant taste.

It lacks the wonderful liquorice-like taste and flavours you find in French tarragon.

Hence French tarragon is the most preferred for culinary purposes.

French tarragon is a very useful and decorative herb, and therefore very common in many kitchen gardens.

The leaves contain iodine and vitamins A and C. They are used in a variety of foods, vinegars, mustards, and sauces, such as the wonderful sauce béarnaise.

The essential volatile oil from the leaves is used in dietary supplements, commercial flavourings, perfumery, and detergents.

The long and fibrous roots were formerly used as a temporary pain relief in connection with toothache.

More information about the french tarragon plant

Recipe

Use fresh, young tarragon leaves.

Pick the leaves in the morning after the dew has disappeared. That's when they are most aromatic.

If you buy fresh tarragon, do make sure the plant is really fresh - organic if possible - and free from spots and insect damage.

Handle the plant with care - fresh herbs bruise easily - and use the leaves as soon as possible to get the most flavour and aroma into your schnapps.

Don't use dried tarragon. Tarragon looses its aromatic volatile oil - and thereby its characteristic taste and flavours - as it dries.

You can use frozen leaves - but you get a much better result if you use fresh leaves.

Direction:

• Clean the leaves carefully - but only if necessary.
• If wet - leave them to dry for a short period in the shadow - on paper towel.
• Put 1 deciliter leaves in a clean glass jar with tight-fitting lid.
• Cover with 5 deciliter clear, unflavoured vodka - 40% alcohol content (80 proof).
• Let steep for 2-4 days in a dark place at room temperature,
  18-20°C (64-68°F).
• Shake lightly and taste it from time to time.
• Strain and filter your infusion into a clean glass bottle or jar with tight-fitting lid.
• Store (age) for a couple of months in a dark place at room temperature before serving.

Note: If for some reason you are not satisfied with your infusion, there are ways to adjust both taste and flavours - click here to see how.

Serve your tarragon schnapps at room temperature in suitable glasses. And remember to keep your schnapps bottle tightly closed and in a dark place before and between servings.