Tarragon – for some a promise of the consecration of high cuisine, for others a rather unknown spice. That you might be banned from your household forever the first time you try it, because you have to be careful which tarragon you plant. However, the right variety will more than meet your expectations. Here you can find out everything about sowing, care and harvesting.
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Not all tarragon is created equal
Artemisia dracunculus, as it is botanically named, was a familiar and familiar herb to every good cook a few decades ago. It was an indispensable part of classic French cuisine. Not only the famous Béarnaise sauce got its typical taste from the tarragon. Tarragon is still an indispensable part of top French cuisine. However, it seems to have disappeared from the spice routine of most cooks.
There’s a reason for that, and that’s because nowadays you almost never get real tarragon when you go shopping for seeds or young tarragon plants. Because there are different types.
Russian or Siberian tarragon, Artemisia dracunculus var. inodora
This is the Artemisia dracunculus that you can usually find for sale in garden centers or online. The Russian tarragon is a variation of the original wild form that has probably already been improved through breeding. It is drawn to cold climate culture and is therefore the most grown and traded in our nurseries. Unlike many other variations of the species, which tend to produce sterile seeds, Russian tarragon sets seeds fairly easily and is winter hardy to around minus 10 degrees.
You can recognize Russian tarragon by its fairly broad leaves, which can shimmer silvery on the underside.
Artemisia dracunculus var. inodora only has a low content of essential oil. The chemical analysis of the other ingredients of the plant also shows that it lacks the flavor-determining flavonoids (secondary plant substances) of French tarragon for the most part.
This is why Russian tarragon hardly develops any aroma. Expert chefs describe it as not very aromatic, oily and rather grassy-bitter to boring in taste. In addition, it tends to develop bitter substances when there is too much sun and drought and when cooking with it. So if you are looking for exactly that noble and fine sweet aroma that used to make you rave about Bearnaise sauce (which is rarely served in tasteful quality even in restaurants today), this is definitely not your Artemisia dracunculus.
The Russian tarragon can be used as a spice and as a vegetable, see below under “Care” for more information.
French or real tarragon, Artemisia dracunculus var. sativa
Another natural variant of tarragon that has been refined through breeding. This variant only very rarely produces flowers and seeds. This Artemisia dracunculus can only be propagated vegetatively. This is the less convenient way of working for the production, which is why you can only get French tarragon in selected specialist nurseries.
You can recognize the French tarragon by its many, somewhat “tangled” growing shoots with the long, narrow leaves.
French tarragon forms up to three percent essential oil (Russian: 0.1 percent) and is famous for its lovely aroma reminiscent of aniseed. This Artemisia dracunculus is ideal for refining many fine light sauces and is an excellent addition to fish and poultry. Its caramel-like, sometimes almost marzipan-like aroma is much friendlier than that of Russian tarragon. This tarragon does not become bitter even if it grows in the summer when it is extremely hot. French tarragon gives the popular herbal cream cheese “Le Tartare” its typical aroma. It is, of course, the tarragon that goes with the famous Béarnaise sauce.
German tarragon
This is often considered and referred to as the same plant as the French tarragon. In reality, however, it is another variety of the species that e.g. B. under the botanical name Artemisia dracunculus cv. on sale is.
It is a second variety of “aromatic” tarragon, which can also only be propagated by cuttings. However, German tarragon grows a little stronger than French. It is also more robust and therefore well suited for our gardens. It also has a strong aroma, which tastes like a cross between the sweet French tarragon and the tart Russian tarragon.
If you come across several other varieties marketed as “wild tarragon” don’t expect too much, unlike many other wild forms of herbs. Because the aromatic varieties were created through breeding. Most of the other subspecies of Artemisia dracunculus are more conspicuous due to the absolute absence of any spicy aroma.
Growing real “French” tarragon
If you want to be culinary happy with your Artemisia dracunculus, you should certainly grow the French tarragon, which unfortunately is quite shy.
It is quite sensitive, especially when young, really not easy to cultivate compared to its “Russian relative”, and you won’t find germinable seeds for sowing anywhere. You would have to look for young plants in specialist herb nurseries, which are grown there from cuttings or divided rootstocks.
If you have “snapped” a young plant, it should be planted in well-drained and humus-rich soil in a warm and sunny location. The young French tarragon is quite sensitive to frost. You should therefore plant it in the spring so that it can grow well over the summer.
When that’s done, you’ve almost won. Once a tarragon has established itself, it usually thrives, including the French. The older plants also become more and more frost hardy. If you are lucky, after a few years you will hardly have any work or problems even with a French tarragon.
Russian and German Tarragon – The Cultivation
Russian or Siberian tarragon is easy to grow from seed. Overall, it is so undemanding and climate-resistant that you can sow it directly into the bed in April. Sowing is done superficially, Artemisia dracunculus is one of the light germs. You should allow him a fairly generous amount of space. Each perennial grows between 60 cm and more than a meter high and needs a base area of about one square meter. In a place that suits it, Russian tarragon will prove hardy and hardy.
You can eat the Russian tarragon as a spring vegetable, then it must be planted in moist and nutritious soil. You then harvest the young shoots, including the stems, while they are still tender (they are until they are about 10 cm high). These can be sautéed in butter and eaten like green beans or mushrooms. If you have already overwintered a perennial, this will certainly be your first self-harvested vegetable of the season.
If you want to use Russian tarragon as a herb, it should be planted in rather poor soil. Until it develops the full aroma, it should then be able to develop in the same place for several years. Which should not cause you any problems, Russian tarragon is extremely undemanding and vital.
You will usually only be able to purchase German tarragon as a young plant, also only in specialist nurseries. It needs a sheltered location with evenly moist soil and soil that is well supplied with compost. It also needs a lot of space in the bed, but you can plant two to four plants per square meter of this Artemisia dracunculus. Normally the German tarragon gets a rather poor soil. However, like the Russian, you can also eat it as a vegetable if you grow it in moist and nutrient-rich soil.
The care
The French tarragon is a bit tricky to care for, so its requirements are dealt with in more detail:
- Always keep French tarragon moist, without waterlogging
- at the beginning it is quite delicate
- cannot yet assert itself very well against weeds, so weed the tarragon bed regularly
- better aroma if you fertilize it in the main growth phase
- with natural fertilizer that does not affect the taste
- he grows eager, giving additional stability through support rods
- or perennial ring prevents the plant from falling apart
- Regularly thinning out the stems will condense the growth of the developing foliage
- Remove bloom for the same reason
You can treat the German tarragon in the same way as the French, but it is a good deal stronger and more robust and usually thrives without any problems.
With the care of the Russian tarragon you will have even less burden. He is vigorous, robust and more than persistent. You certainly won’t have to complain to him about hesitant development. Rather, Russian tarragon might tempt you in exactly the opposite direction, proving to be so prolific that you’ll need to trim it far more often than you’d like. All species of Artemisia dracunculus develop rhizomes, which they use to reproduce in an environment that suits them (this is also the reason why many varieties are so “lazy” when it comes to developing flowers and seeds).
The harvest
You can harvest leaves and tender shoot tips of tarragon from spring until the first frost, which can be used fresh immediately. You can always cut back a few stem tips by half until flowering, so you continuously encourage the development of new, tender side shoots.
If you want to conserve Artemisia dracunculus, you should harvest just before flowering begins, when it tastes best.
You can keep the young shoots fresh for a while in a plastic bag in the fridge or freeze them in an ice cube tray with a little water and later remove the cubes individually. Tarragon can also be preserved very well in white wine vinegar or in oil. You can also fit a good handful of fresh leaves in a mustard, but it should be used up during the current grilling season.
Artemisia dracunculus can also be dried. The spiciness of dried tarragon cannot be compared to that of fresh tarragon, but many dishes still taste better with dried tarragon than without. To do this, cut off entire stems (on a morning, on a dry sunny day), strip the leaves from the stem immediately after cutting and spread them out on a flat container to dry. As an exception, the branches should not be hung in decorative bundles. Otherwise its ingredients migrate back into the stalk during drying.
Conclusion
Growing tarragon is – if problematic at all – more a matter of patience than a question of complicated care. If you are growing Artemisia dracunculus in your own garden, it really pays to go in search of tarragon. Like Russian and German tarragon, it can hibernate in the garden if you take care of professional hibernation at first.