Orange and Thyme Infused Vinegar Recipe
This easy orange and thyme infused vinegar adds subtle flair to dressings, marinades, and sauces. Its deliciously simple to make and makes a brilliant gift from the kitchen!
If you’re anything like me, you could spend hours goggling at condiments in your favourite speciality store. That’s because you know that a flavoured oil, vinegar, or salt adds a subtle layer of flavour to every day foods that immediately takes them to the next level.
These kitchen treats are beautiful to look at. They’re also a brilliant source of inspiration. And, all too often, they’re breathtakingly expensive. Despite my yearning to try certain of these delicacies, I’m often put off by the price — wondering whether it’s worth the investment for a product I’m not sure I’ll love.
The good news is it’s actually very easy to make speciality vinegars at home. You select the ingredients, and the flavours. A few minutes of effort are all it takes to create your own exotic vinegars at home. This particular vinegar is one I like to use for festive season salads and homemade barbecue sauces.
About this Recipe
Flavoured vinegars take mere minutes to make. Nonetheless, I have a couple of suggestions that will help you achieve optimal results each and every time.
- Bottling: Use glass bottles with corks or rubber gaskets. Avoid bottles or jars with metal rings, as the vinegar will inevitably react with the metal. If you must use jars with metal rings for storage, place a square of plastic wrap between the bottle top and the metal ring to prevent any reaction from occurring.
- Sterilising: It is best to sterilise your storage container in order to avoid any contamination. This can be done easily in most dishwashers. Otherwise, place the jar or bottle and its lid in a deep pot. Cover everything with water by at least an inch. Then, bring the pot to the boil. Allow it to boil hard for 10 minutes. Then, turn off the heat. You can remove the bottles immediately and allow them to dry on a clean tea towel until you are ready to use them. [Tip: You can dry bottles more quickly in the oven, set at 120º C (250º F)].
- Storage: Flavoured vinegars will keep in a dark place, at room temperature for up to 4 months.
- Heating Vinegar: Keep an eye on the stove when you are heating vinegar and use a non-reactive pan (stainless steel or enamel coated pans are perfect). Vinegar can boil over very quickly, and your objective in heating the vinegar is simply to dissolve the honey, and support the steeping and drawing out of flavours from your aromatics. So, you do not want to boil the vinegar. Pull it off the heat as soon as it comes to a simmer.
- Steeping: The longer you leave the vinegar to infuse, the stronger the flavour. So, depending on the result you desire, you may wish to leave the aromatics to steep in the vinegar for up to three weeks prior to filtering and decanting it. This is a question of personal preference. So, do feel free to experiment with longer steeping times, if you wish.
Can I Use this Technique with Other Flavours?
Absolutely! This technique works with any fruit or fresh herb you wish to use it with. Simply ensure that you select fresh, blemish-free produce and proceed according to the instructions. In fact, I would love to hear about your favourite flavour combinations in the comments section.
Other Recipes that Use Orange and Thyme Infused Vinegar
| Cranberry Orange Spinach Salad |  |
| Hoisin Lacquered Duck Legs with Asian Slaw |  |
I hope your friends and family enjoy this orange and thyme infused vinegar every bit as much as my family does. Bon appétit!
Orange and Thyme Infused Vinegar Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 oranges, zest of
- 1 cup fresh thyme sprigs, washed and dried
Instructions
- Place the vinegar and honey in a heavy bottomed, non-reactive saucepan set over medium high heat. As soon as the vinegar is simmering steadily, remove the pan from the heat.
- Add the orange zest and thyme to the vinegar mixture. Cover it and leave it to steep for at least 24 hours.
- Then, strain the vinegar into a clean, sterilised bottle. Add a strip of orange zest and a sprig of thyme to the bottle. The vinegar can be used immediately.
Notes
The longer the vinegar steeps, the more flavourful it will become. If desired, you can decant the vinegar, along with the thyme and the orange zest into a sterilised jar and keep it in a cool dark space for up to three weeks, prior to straining and bottling it, as described above.
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