Tarragon Substitute

Before you start hunting for possible tarragon substitutes, you must know what is tarragon like and what about it boosts its usage in cooking. Basically, a redolent herb with a bittersweet taste, tarragon is a perennial herb with green elongated leaves which have a wider mid-section. Along with the leaves, the soft stem of the plant is often used for flavoring various delicacies. Since the dried version of tarragon has a rather attenuated flavor to offer, most food experts around the world prefer to hack up the fresh foliage of this plant for their variant culinary purposes. Cutting up ½ an ounce of fresh tarragon will leave you with ⅓ cup of these green flavouring. One can also use frozen tarragon in the place of fresh tarragon. Just store fresh whole sprigs of tarragon in air-tight bags in the refrigerator for up to 3 - 5 months. The air-tight bags will ensure that the flavour gets locked in. You do not even need to defrost these frozen sprigs before using it in a dish.Works equally well.

So, what is tarragon similar to? Belonging to the plant family of Asteraceae, the taste of tarragon is rather similar of the respective tastes of anise, fennel and of licorice to a certain degree. Largely, it is the German variety of tarragon called estragon which is used all over the globe for cooking purposes such as infusing different types of vinegar, making a French remedial sweet flavored tea effective for treating insomnia and of course to flavor up soups, salads, meats, broths and pickles. Now unlike the sweet aroma of the German tarragon, the Russian tarragon is bitter to taste and hardly fragrant at all! Tarragon also happens to be one of the four non resinous constituents of the French fines herbes, the other three being chervil, chives and parsley. So, one has all the reasons to use this herb especially to add that French touch to fish, meat and salad recipes, especially now that a research team from the European Union has proven it to be a fact that the natural compound 'estragole' content in tarragon is cancerous only for rats and not for humans, even when consumed a thousand times more than normal. But what do you do when you have run out of it and just do not have the time to run to the grocery store and get it? Well, in such culinary exigencies, opt for these tarragon alternatives which work equally well.

Good Tarragon Substitutes

Try the following spice and herb options for tarragon substitution.

• Simmering parsley and cinnamon powder together evokes an aroma extremely similar to that of tarragon. Try using it in equal amounts and use it for salad dressings, soups or the famous French sauce béarnaise.
• Use a dash of ground fennel seed instead of 1 tablespoon of fresh tarragon or 1 teaspoon of the dried version, and increase the amount if you want a stronger and sweeter effect.
• In a recipe that asks for 1 teaspoon of tarragon, first use ½ the amount of aniseed and then add more if you want a more accentuated flavor.
• Try the same trick with chervil. It works rather well as a tarragon substitute.
• You can also use equal amounts of tagetes or Mexican mint marigold, dubbed Mexican tarragon, which is very similar to German tarragon, if only a tad sweeter. It is widely available in southern parts of the US, where the hot, humid climate limits the growth of the original tarragon.
• Marjoram too can be used, given its natural licorice taste.
• Angelica, the parsley family member which is used primarily for flavouring liqueurs, making candies, desserts and for cake decor, is a grand substitute for tarragon.

There are suggestions of using an equal amount of thyme, dill or rosemary instead of tarragon, but personally, I feel that they would change that taste of the dish, even though that doesn't mean they will ruin it. Oregano and basil will give the dish a flavour which will be way stronger than that of tarragon, so using it depends on your judgment really.

Tarragon in itself has a very fine aroma, which often reminds me of the typical smell of a pipe that has been recently used for smoking. It has a rather unique smell of its own. But, you can try to successfully replicate the aroma to a great extent with the tarragon substitutes mentioned above. Also, I would greatly appreciate anybody who can share some other tarragon alternatives that they may have stumbled upon. After all, cooking is a science where inventions are a daily affair!