This recipe calls for heating vinegar and adding sugar and salt. For this reason, it should be kept refrigerated and used sooner than other vinegar preparations. The use of white vinegar and sugar lends to achieving the pretty pink color of this vinegar, but you could substitute apple cider vinegar and honey for the white vinegar and sugar. When picking clover, look for blossoms that are dry, not quite fully opened, with no hint of brown, and of the darkest, pinkest color.
Ingredients
2-3 cups purple/red clover, blossoms only
2 cups white vinegar
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
Directions
Fill a jar with the clover blossoms.
Bring the vinegar, salt, and sugar to a boil in a saucepan.
Pour it over the blossoms, seal the jar, and let stand overnight.
The next morning, pour the liquid into a pot, reboil, and pour it back into the jar, over the flowers.
Repeat this for five consecutive days.
You will notice that as the days progress, the flowers start to lose their color and the liquid takes on a lovely purple-pink shade.
After you have finished this process, strain off the liquid through a cheesecloth.
Bottle for use in salad dressings and vinaigrettes.
Adapted from Wild in the Kitchen by Ronna Mogelon
