the friday feed: purple basil vinegar

Purple basil is a lovely thing: a deep, dark, almost black purple, with that familiar basil flavor & aroma, but just slightly mellower; a little sweeter, a little less grassy, perhaps just a touch more refined. Dare I say regal? Must be the purple.

I bought a couple purple basil plants this past spring and with this hot summer, they flourished. I put some into salads and pasta but didn’t want to make purple pesto (maybe next year) so a lot of basil sat in my garden until last Friday. That’s when I pulled it out of the garden and brought it into the kitchen to make purple basil vinegar.

Basil vinegar is the easiest preserving you’ll ever do. Trim the leaves off the plant, dump the basil into vinegar, cap it, and give it a shake. Let it sit for a couple weeks and then strain it into some pretty bottles. Glory at the color,  the fragrance, the taste. Become a salad person so you can make your own purple basil vinaigrette. 

Discovered a little friend while cleaning the basil and returned the stem to the garden.

After a week the vinegar has taken on a deep purple hue. One more week to straining.