Tarragon

Artemisia dracunculus

Tarragon also known as estragon is a species of perennial herb in the sunflower family. It is widespread in the wild across much of Eurasia and North America, and is cultivated for culinary and medicinal purposes.

One subspecies, Artemisia dracunculus var. sativa, is cultivated for use of the leaves as an aromatic culinary herb. In some other subspecies, the characteristic aroma is largely absent. The species is polymorphic. Informal names for distinguishing the variations include "French 
tarragon" (best for culinary use), "Russian tarragon", and "wild tarragon".

Tarragon is one of the ‘fines herbes’ of French cuisine, and is particularly suitable for chicken, fish, and egg dishes. In Hungary a popular kind of chicken soup is flavored with tarragon. Tarragon is the main flavoring component of Béarnaise sauce. Fresh, lightly bruised sprigs of tarragon are steeped in vinegar to produce tarragon vinegar. Tarragon is used to flavor a popular carbonated soft drink in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (where it originally comes from) and, by extension, Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. The drink, named Tarkhuna, is made out of sugary tarragon concentrate and colored bright green. Tarragon is one of the main ingredients in Chakapuli, Georgian national dish. In Iran, tarragon is used as a side dish in sabzi khordan, or in stews and in Persian style pickles, particularly khiar shoor (pickled cucumbers). In Slovenia, tarragon is used in a variation of the traditional nut roll sweet cake, called potica.