Making your own infused vinegars is even better than creating vinegars from scratch. You just need a good base vinegar to start. From there, you can infuse it with almost anything that’s not poisonous or unhealthy.
The first stage involves taking several long walks and researching local plants to understand their flavor profiles. The second stage is becoming acquainted with the spirit of the place, letting it speak to you from a flavor perspective. For example, my local mountains in Southern California are mostly populated by pinyon pine and white fir. Other flavor accents include fennel, ponderosa pine, juniper, and various sagebrushes. I try to infuse all of those into the vinegars I create.
I usually start with a good-quality apple cider vinegar and infuse it with pinyon pine branches, white fir needles, and crushed unripe juniper berries, which will give the vinegar lemony and tangerine flavors with hints of pine. Mugwort and yarrow are ancestral herbs the Vikings and Celts used as brewing ingredients, but they also have medicinal and spiritual properties. I gather mugwort in fall, when the plant has deep, complex flavors that I associate with aging.
My mountain blend varies each year. A typical blend may contain more than 12 different ingredients in various ratios. I age this vinegar much longer than any others, up to a couple of years.
In the end, your own infused vinegar will become more than just a vinegar. You’ll have established a personal spiritual connection to your place. This
