Vegan Food & Living - October 2017

66 VEGAN FOOD & LIVING OCTOBER

H

erb oils and vinegars are an

attractive way of preserving the

fl avour of herbs and then using

them in salad dressings, marinades, for

drizzling over food and for stir-fry dishes.

I store bottles in my larder for my own use

and they make popular presents. I collect

beautiful bottles to make oils and vinegars

in, then label and decorate with a ribbon

tied around a bunch of the fresh herb.

HERB OILS

I like using the hard herbs – bay, thyme,

rosemary and savory – with a few dried

chillies, the number depending on the

size of the bottle of oil. This oil is known

as my Hot Herb Oil and it is very popular

with friends. They tend to say: “Please

come to dinner – and would you mind

bringing some more of your wonderful

herb and chilli oil? Oh and bring your

husband, too.”

Fill a jar with extra-virgin olive oil

and then put in four sprigs of washed

and dried herb. You can make it with a

mixture of herbs, but making an oil with

only one type really captures its taste.

Hard herbs are easy to use and for bay

use 8-10 leaves. But you can also make

herb oils with the softer herbs like basil,

dill, fennel and mint. And you can use

dried peppercorns in a spicy oil or make

fl avoured oils using coriander, fennel or

dill seeds.

Herb oils will keep for up to a year if

stored in a cool, dark place. There is said

to be a very slight risk of botulism from

storing herb oils for a long time, because

the spores of the bacterium that causes

botulism can be present on anything that

grows in soil, including herbs.

One way to reduce any risk is to

avoid using garlic, and to strain the oil

to remove the herbs after two weeks,

then store the bottle of oil in a cool, dark

place. Some people even keep their herb

oils in the refrigerator to reduce the risk,

while others believe that adding a little

lemon juice helps. But I have to say that I

have been making herb oils for decades,

leaving in the herbs and keeping them

dark, but not refrigerator-cool. There has

never been a problem.

Basil oil

This is an excellent way of capturing the

unique and useful fl avour of basil. You

will need 5 tablespoons of basil leaves for

500ml (17fl oz) of olive oil. Remove the

leaves of the basil and pound them in a

mortar. Add some oil and pound again to

bruise the leaves so they release their own

oil. Mix with the rest of the oil, pour into

a jar and put it in a sunny spot, shaking

regularly for two weeks, then strain the

oil into an attractive bottle, add a few

fresh leaves to help identify the oil and

store in a dark, cool place.

Chive oil

Chive oil can be made in the same way as

basil oil, using 7 tablespoons of snipped

chives in place of the basil. I have just

used some drops of chive oil, given to

me by the food expert Lyn Hall, on a

clear tomato soup, which I then served

sprinkled with chopped young chives.

herbsherbs

Make the most of

herbs

Don’t waste fabulous fragrant

herbs, make oils and vinegars.

Judith Hann shows us how...

VFL17.Herbs.indd 66 07/09/2017 11:11