Freeze-Dried Tarragon

Asked by GRaven. Answered on 11th November 2012

Full question

Nigella's Tarragon Chicken recipe in Kitchen calls for freeze-dried tarragon. This is not available in Australia and will be rather hard and expensive to get. Can I substitute regular air dried or fresh tarragon or something else?

Our answer

Freeze-dried herbs are useful for faster cooking dishes, such as the Tarragon Chicken, as the freeze-drying process tends to allow herbs to retain more flavour and aroma vs. with their regular dried counterparts. For the Tarragon Chicken dish we would not recommend using regular dried herbs.

Fresh tarragon would be the best alternative for the dish. We would suggest using the same quantity of fresh tarragon as in the recipe - roughly chop the tarragon leaves and use 1/2 teaspoon. You can add more to taste, if you like.

If you have leftover tarragon then wash and dry the leaves and lay them on a baking sheet lined with clingfilm. Freeze the leaves until solid then transfer to a resealable bag or airtight container and cook with the leaves direct from frozen.