How to Make Your Own Chive Infused Vinegar

Infused vinegars are an easy and inexpensive way to add flavor to your meals.  Chive vinegar is fun to make with kids, because it’s such a pretty color, and kids generally like eating flowers.  If you grow your own chives (and you should), you need to pick the flowers, so they don’t go to seed all over your whole garden.  Since you’ve got to pick the flowers anyway, save a few to garnish salads with, and use the rest to flavor vinegar.  Let’s get started.

We’re going to flavor an already existing vinegar with the chive blossoms, but if you want to create vinegar from scratch, check out my post on making apple cider vinegar using apple scraps.

Chives grow practically year round in mild climates, they add tons of flavor to ranch dressing and baked potatoes, and the blossoms are edible.  They make vinegar a lovely bright pink color, and give it a faint oniony flavor.  You can use chive flavored vinegar anywhere you’d normally use a white vinegar.

Step One: Pick the chive blossoms from your plant.  They should be fully open.  You can store chive blossoms for several days in the fridge while waiting for all the blossoms on the plant to bloom.

Step Two: Rinse blossoms and pat or air dry

Step Three: Fill a jar with the chive blossoms, and pour vinegar over them

Blossoms should be submerged in vinegar, I used white wine vinegar, but white rice vinegar would also work.

Step Four: Cover the jar with a coffee filter, and keep in a dark cool spot for about two weeks.  I give the jar a swirl every once in awhile.  The vinegar should turn bright pink within a day or two.

Step Five: Strain the blossoms from the vinegar–I use a canning funnel and coffee filter.  Store the vinegar in a sealed jar, away from direct sunlight.  I use it mixed with olive oil on salads, or drizzled over roasted or steamed vegetables.

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