Grow French tarragon

The French are known for having great taste and that’s also true for French tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus). You can tell if your tarragon is French by putting a small piece on the tip of your tongue – you should get a warm, numbing sensation. Its delicate, sweet aniseed flavour is superior to other tarragons. Mexican, at a pinch, is a possible substitute (while Russian tarragon is too mild and just doesn’t cut the mustard).

During spring, gardeners get inspired to plant French tarragon and head off to the garden centre only to find that it’s not yet available. The thing about this determined plant is that it grows by the beat of its own drum. It cannot be rushed and won’t be cajoled into being ready any faster just because gardeners want to plant it early.

The problem is that French tarragon is herbaceous, so it dies down totally in winter and doesn’t shoot back until spring. And, because its flowers are sterile, it can’t be grown from seed. The only way to produce new plants is by division or cuttings. While this isn’t too hard to do, production nurseries have to wait until their ‘mother plants’ have recovered from winter hibernation before they can even start propagating. This means that by the time plants are ready to be purchased, it is usually early summer.

So, with all that in mind, when you finally manage to get hold of your own French tarragon, it’s worth knowing a few tricks to keep it growing for many years. While it might look delicate and fragile with its fine silvery grey foliage, don’t be fooled – it’s actually a pretty robust plant. And it doesn’t need as much attention as you might think.

Planting and care

There are two reasons why you should only ever plant French tarragon into a pot, and not into the ground. Firstly, premium potting mix provides excellent drainage and nutrients for this plant – it doesn’t like to have a soggy bottom.

Secondly, as the plant disappears from the surface and goes dormant, you can almost guarantee that, if it’s in the garden, it will be forgotten about. An overenthusiastic gardener is bound to plant something else in its place, or mistakenly pull out the weedy-looking shoots that poke back up in spring.

By growing it in a pot, French tarragon will never be lost and, when it is in its dormant stage, the whole thing can be moved around to the side of the house where it won’t get too much rain over winter. Remember to keep an eye on it when the temperature drops, however, as this plant can be frost sensitive.

Once out of its dormancy stage and tiny shoots are starting to appear, it’s a good idea to re-pot French tarragon into fresh premium potting mix. At the same time, tease off some of the babies and put them into separate pots. French tarragon is one of the few herbs that actually likes being in a snug pot; 30cm wide by 30cm high is about right, so there’s no need to feel that bigger is better in this case.

Only water the plants every two or three days, except in the heat of summer, since too much water will do more damage than too little. And, while the French are known for their love of food, these plants shouldn’t need a feed until autumn. In March or April, apply a controlled-release fertiliser.

Cooking and storing French tarragon

A lot of people will recognise the flavour of French tarragon from the traditional bearnaise sauce, and it pairs perfectly with fish and beef. Where it really shines is in poulet à l’estragon which, translated into English, is just chicken cooked in a simple, creamy tarragon sauce. Délicieux!

French tarragon should be added to meals towards the end of cooking, as it only needs a bit of warmth to release its flavours. Try including it in potato salad, mashed potatoes, sauteed mushrooms or omelettes, or combine it with finely chopped chervil, parsley and chives for the classic fine herbes.

In mid-summer, when French tarragon is in full flurry, use it to make tarragon oil or vinegar. It’s at its best when used fresh as it tends to lose some of its flavour when dried. Picked leaves last about six months in the freezer – just wet the leaves and freeze them, packed very loosely into a plastic bag, or combine them with a little water and place into ice-cube trays.

Words by Kathy Bafile

Header image credit: iStock

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French tarragon