Tarragon: the anise-scented herb behind bearnaise and fines herbes

Tarragon is a small-volume herb with an outsized job. A few leaves carry bearnaise, tarragon vinegar and the fines herbes blend, and nothing else tastes quite like it. King Quality Produce carries French tarragon every month of the year in 1 lb bags, sold by the bag or as a 10 lb box of ten, and receives it fresh daily in the Los Angeles produce district.

French tarragon, and why the word French matters

The tarragon worth buying is French tarragon, Artemisia dracunculus var. sativa. Its lookalike, Russian tarragon (A. dracunculoides), grows more vigorously but lacks the aromatic oils that give the French plant its flavor, and seed sold as tarragon is often the Russian type or a vigorous plant with little aroma¹. True French tarragon rarely sets viable seed, so growers propagate it from cuttings or divisions rather than from seed¹. The UC Marin Master Gardeners put it plainly: French tarragon is the only choice of tarragon for the kitchen².

The plant is a perennial that stands 2.5 to 4 feet tall on thin upright stems, with narrow green leaves and small greenish-white flowers¹. The leaves have an anise-like flavor and scent^{1, 2}, and the essential oil, called estragon, is what flavors pickles and tarragon vinegar¹. Fresh leaves are the most flavorful form; drying costs the herb both color and flavor¹.

What we carry is French tarragon, bagged in 1 lb units, by the bag or in a 10 lb box of ten.

Where it grows and when

Tarragon is native to Europe, southern Russia and western Asia¹. It likes warm, sunny sites with dry, well-drained soil, does not tolerate standing water, and grows best between 45 and 63 F¹. It is a winter-dormant perennial², so in cooler climates the field crop disappears for months at a time. Growers who supply year-round programs do it from mild regions and by staggering plantings. A new planting can be harvested six to eight weeks after it goes in the ground, and the summer harvest runs from the time flower buds appear until late autumn, before the leaves yellow¹. Fields are renewed by division every three to four years to keep growth and flavor up¹.

Tarragon is a year-round item for us, but it is still a field herb: leaf size and stem length vary with the weather and the age of the planting, so ask what the current lot looks like if you have a specific use in mind. Because it is sold by weight, that variation shows up in how many usable leaves a pound gives you, not in the price of the bag.

How to buy it

Tarragon is sold by weight, not by a count size or a Fancy or #2 grade. Our unit is a 1 lb bag, and the 10 lb box is ten of them. A restaurant that makes bearnaise nightly usually runs through a bag or two a week; commissaries, dressing producers and specialty markets take the box.

On receiving, open a bag and look before you sign. Good tarragon is deep green with no yellowing, the leaves lie flat rather than curled and dry, and the stems bend without collapsing. Tarragon leaves bruise easily¹, so dark, wet-looking patches mean rough handling somewhere upstream. Smell it: the anise note should be obvious the moment the bag opens. Bags should have little or no free condensation inside, because standing moisture encourages mold and bacteria¹. Reject anything slimy.

• Color: deep green throughout, no yellow or black leaves
• Texture: leaves flat and supple, stems pliable, no mush
• Aroma: clear anise scent as soon as the bag opens
• Bag: dry inside, little or no condensation

Storage and shelf life

The UC Davis Postharvest Technology Center groups tarragon with the herbs that want the coldest shelf you have. For most fresh culinary herbs, storage at 0 C (32 F) is required to optimize quality and storage life, with relative humidity above 95 percent; expected shelf life is three weeks at 32 F and two weeks at 41 F³. Only basil and shiso are chilling sensitive among the herbs UC Davis tested; tarragon is not, so there is no reason to keep it warm³. In a 10-day trial, tarragon held at 32 F scored 8 on a 9-point visual quality scale, while tarragon held at 50 F scored 6⁴.

Temperature matters because herbs breathe fast. Across the herbs measured, respiration averaged 13 ml of CO2 per kg per hour at 32 F and 118 at 68 F, roughly nine times faster at room temperature³. UC ANR's small-farm guidance for tarragon gives a similar range: three to four weeks at 32 F, two to three weeks at 41 F, humidity above 95 percent where practical, and perforated or vapor-permeable bags with condensation kept down to prevent mold and bacteria¹. Young tissue is sensitive to ethylene, so keep tarragon out of the same box or cooler zone as ripening fruit¹.

Two habits cost kitchens tarragon every week: leaving the bag on a prep counter during service, and misting. UC Davis notes that water spraying at retail may favor bacterial growth³, and the same goes for a wet towel in a hotel pan. Keep it cold, in its bag, and dry.

Nutrition

USDA FoodData Central lists tarragon only in dried form, so the numbers below are per 100 g of dried leaves, not fresh⁵. Per 100 g: 295 calories, 22.8 g protein, 7.4 g fiber, 1,140 mg calcium, 32.3 mg iron, 347 mg magnesium, 3,020 mg potassium, 7.97 mg manganese, 50 mg vitamin C, 274 µg folate and 210 µg vitamin A as retinol activity equivalents⁵. Those are concentrated figures because drying removes the water; the dried entry holds just 7.74 g of water per 100 g⁵.

Keep the serving size in mind. USDA lists a tablespoon of dried tarragon leaves at 1.8 g⁵, and fresh tarragon goes into a dish a few grams at a time, so a portion contributes minerals in small amounts rather than a meaningful share of a day's needs. Tarragon earns its place on flavor, not on the nutrition label.

In the kitchen

Tarragon's home base is French cooking: bearnaise, fines herbes alongside parsley, chives and chervil, tarragon vinegar and mustard, and the chicken, fish and egg dishes those sauces go on. UC Cooperative Extension's culinary herb table lists the leaves and tips for dressings, tartar sauce, vinegar and preserves, and chopped leaves in salads⁶. Steakhouses, French bistros and dressing producers are the steady buyers.

Los Angeles adds a second, larger market. Fresh tarragon, tarkhun, sits on the Persian sabzi khordan herb plate, goes into Armenian and Georgian dishes, and shows up in the herb cases of markets from Glendale to Westwood. For those customers it is a table herb, bought by the pound and eaten raw, and demand runs steady all year.

Treat tarragon as a finishing herb. Its visual life is much longer than its aroma life, because the essential oils decline in storage well before the leaves look tired⁴, and cooking drives off more of what is left, so add it at the end or raw. To hold flavor beyond the fresh window, UC Marin recommends preserving sprigs in white wine vinegar and refrigerating², which is tarragon vinegar, and the single best way to stretch a pound.

Tarragon counts change with the field. Call the office at (213) 627-7181 or email office@kingqualityproduce.com for this week's availability and pricing by the bag or the box.