French Tarragon
(Artemisia dracunculus var. sativa)
Allow a couple of years for the plants to fully establish before they start producing quality stems. The main growth flush comes in Spring: remove Summer flowers to encourage further Autumn growth, if the soil is sufficiently moist. Tarragon can be a little fussy with moisture levels, preferring it neither too wet nor too dry. Experiment!
Tarragon Cheese
A simple fresh cheese. Access to unpasteurised milk, introducing a whole new flavour spectrum, makes this cheese even tastier.
Warm 1lt full-fat milk to 30deg. Stir in 1ts yoghurt thinned with 1ts milk - cover & rest 1hr. Reheat to 30deg and stir in 1ts rennet. Pour the milk into a plastic container with a clip-on lid. Pour sufficient tap-temperature hot water into a chilly bin so that when the milk container is immersed, the water comes 3/4 up its side.
Put the chilly bin lid on and rest 24 hours. Remove the container & lid, cut the curds into small pieces, then pour curds & whey into a cheese-cloth lined sieve placed over a bowl. When most of the free liquid has drained tie the cloth ends together & hang over the bowl to drip out residual whey. Toss curds into another bowl and mash up with 1/8ts salt and plenty of chopped tarragon.
The whey is a tangy substitute for water in bread making or porridge.
