French tarragon
Artemisia dracunculus ‘Sativa’
The real Béarnaise herb. Anise-scented, sterile — must be grown from cuttings. Russian tarragon from seed is a bland impostor. Not a dried-jar winner; freeze or use fresh.
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
Also called: tarragon
What it is
The real Béarnaise herb. Anise-scented, sterile — must be grown from cuttings. Russian tarragon from seed is a bland impostor. Not a dried-jar winner; freeze or use fresh.
From the existing encyclopedia
Tarragon is a fresh-forward herb that also dries for off-season use. Bright green flavor suits finishing plates, herb butters, and light broths. Introduce new ingredients gradually in cooking portions to learn flavor strength before scaling recipes. Complements lemon, lime, or vinegar acidity in dressings and marinades. When substituting dried Tarragon for fresh, use about one-third the volume and bloom in fat or hot water before adding acid or dairy.
Edible portions
- leaves
Absence of a portion from this list means it is not treated as food here — not that every other part is toxic.
Growing
- Climate. 4–8 with drainage
- Light. Full sun
- Soil. Well-drained; winter wet kills it
- Planting. Buy a named French plant. Seed packets are usually Russian.
- Harvest. Tips through summer; cut back to renew.
Processing, drying, storage
- Drying. Disappointing dried. Preserve in vinegar or freeze. See also Make → Drying.
Preparation and culinary uses
- Béarnaise, chicken, eggs, vinegar infusions
Nutrition and compounds
- Plant compounds. estragol (methyl chavicol). Presence is not a dose, a cure, or a reason to buy a capsule.
AAA interpretation Food first. These associations explain why a plant shows up in a nutrient conversation — they are not a supplement shopping list.
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- USDA FoodData Central — nutrient profiles for foods (verify current entries; this page does not invent milligrams)
- State cooperative extension growing guides — verify for your region
- Integrated from the existing aaaLifetime / quantum-biohack encyclopedia corpus (unique text preserved where it was not boilerplate).
Honest incompleteness is preferred to fabricated completeness. If a section is missing, no record for it is attached here — not a claim that the plant lacks that characteristic, and not that it was omitted as a secret.
Internal quality class A. Strong page: distinctive plant facts plus practical growing or kitchen use.