I am growing all these herbs and half of them I dont know what to use them for....except for rosemary and basil of course. I got about five different oreganos three different mints. Oh yes I do make Mohitos with the mint. That Apple mint dont have much smell, but Lawd when its blended its the strongest stuff. I would like to make those pretty bottles with herbs in it for gifts too, but I dont know what base is used other than olive oil.
Thanks
Sylvia
Anyone know of a good book for cooking with herbs?
Oh, it's marvelous to have fresh herbs in the garden for cooking! Sorry not to have a cookbook to recommend, but thought I could pass along a couple of suggestions to get you exploring the possibilites.
You don't need different recipes for cooking with fresh herbs; you can adapt recipes you already have. The flavors, however, will be far better & more complex with fresh herbs. When cooking with fresh herbs, you need about 3 times the volume of dried herb that may be called for in a recipe. Therefore, replace 1 teaspoon of crumbled dried herb (basil, oregano, whatever) with 1 tablespoon of minced fresh herb. As far as utilizing your different cultivars, I like to blend different oreganos together for a more balanced flavor, same with the basil -- love to make pesto with 2 or 3 different kinds.
I haven't done the oils, but you can make wonderful herb vinegars! Stuff a bottle with a likely mixture of herbs (I've done Italian vinegar with basil, oregano & thyme, vinegar with thyme and lemon peel, one with a mixture of different basils, etc), and add a few peppercorns, or a couple of garlic cloves, or a hot pepper if desired. Fill the bottle to the top with white wine vinegar, being sure to submerge the herbs. Steep for 2 or 3 weeks, then strain out the herbs and pour flavored vinegar into sterile bottles. You can add a few fresh herb sprigs to the bottles for "pretty" if you like. These make great salad dressings and can also be added to marinades, stir fries, etc. If you use purple basil, the vinegar will turn a gorgeous magenta-pink color!
Oh, and a couple of suggestions for using your mint, other than in tea. I add a generous handful of chopped spearmint, half a sweet onion (minced), and several cloves of minced garlic to a pound or so of ground lamb for fabulous lamb-burgers. My brother adds a tablespoon or so of fresh minced mint to buttered peas -- yum!
Have fun!
Oregano (and basil) is really good on pizza and in tomato-based pasta sauces.
I highly recommend: "Herbs in the Kitchen" by Carolyn Dille and Susan Bilsiger. I use it constantly and get raves for my pesto, and my lemon-garlic salad dressing for which the recipes come out of this book.
In general, you can use herbs to flavor veggies by keeping families of plants together. For example, dill goes great with carrots because they are in the same family. That's one rule of thumb.
Some other general suggestions:
Basil - goes great with anything tomato, all italian foods, in salads, and ground with parsley, garlic, olive oil, and toasted pine nuts to make pesto.
Dill -- as well as carrots, also goes great in broccoli cheese soup, and all egg dishes, and some seafood. Grilled fish with dill and lemon: yummy!
Parsley -- I toss this in salads, pesto, pretty much everything.
Chives -- related to onions so use 'em wherever you'd use onions for a milder oniony flavor.
Thyme -- this is a savory herb, good with beef and chicken. I use it, again, in just about everything. One of my favorites. Works well in stews and soups.
Rosemary -- I have a great lemon-rosemary cookie recipe I need to share... Also great in olive oil with some other things to make a great bread dip. Works with all italian food and a lot of greek food.
Sage -- Besides turkey and stuffing, I'm not all that sure what to do with this one. I think you have to like the flavor.
Fennel -- I don't like the taste and never use it. I grow it to feed caterpillars.
Bay -- I use it in savory dishes like homemade veggie soup.
Borage -- related to celery, sort of tastes like celery, use it to make things taste like celery
Mints -- all make great iced tea, or additions to your regular iced tea.
Lemon anything makes good tea, including lemongrass.
Does that help? ;>)
Thanks, dogzilla, that was a very helpful post! Great introductory info for anyone looking at their herbs and wondering, what could I do with this....? I'd never thought of carrots & dill going together due to being in the same family; that's an interesting notion!
Critter, you and Dogzilla got it going on! Thats the kind stuff I want to hear! Dogzilla you should write a book! LOL! Tommorrow I am going to list the herbs I have for you guys. ;) and take pics. Last week I bought this Hot Spicey Oregano, I cant wait to see what that is all about. I also have two mints than are trailing, thought they would be pretty. I have a hard time with that Purple sage though. I got one in the sun and one in semi shade...trying to find out what works ..its so pretty. Spectrum I just love Basil. Ina Gartner...Barefoot Contessa... had this wonderful reciepe for yellow Squash with garlic and basil its awsome...dont fix squash any other way now. Dogzilla I am going to look for that book.
Thanks guys
Sylvia
Funny you should suggest that... I'm sort of working on a book, in fact. Well, I'm gathering knowlege, photographs and information because I want to write a book. I have a whole rant about what's wrong with all my gardening books and I intend to write one that addresses those shortcomings. In the meantime, I've found out that I have gained a lot of knowlege which is fun to share and hopefully, helpful to other people.
My areas of "expertise" are in herbs, specifically medicinal plants and butterfly and hummingbird gardening.
My only other advice to people experimenting with new herbs is to try one thing at a time and use a neutral food so you can really see what the flavor does. For example, potatoes are pretty neutral. While rosemary is one of my favorite herbs with potatoes, thyme is also excellent and some of the oreganos would be good. My suggestion is to try one herb at a time in a given meal so the flavor isn't overwhelmed by other flavors and you can really tell if you like the herb or not. I tend to pick out one new thing each year and use it in everything, in every way I can imagine. That usually narrows me down to limiting what I'll use where. For example, do not use stevia in a dish that shouldn't be sweet.
Hey, that's good news! I could certainly use a book like that on my shelf!! I'd put it right next to Tucker & DeBaggio's _Big Book of Herbs_ -- and that's a place of honor!
I'll have to remember that if I ever find a publisher: the DG people could help me promote!
DZ..you are are right again! I have this awful habit of overdoing things. lol ...but all is not lost...I bought a ten lb bag of potatoes on sale for 1.99...my intentions were to give half to my cleaning lady but yours is a better idea. lol ...and hurry with that book...also I want mine autograph. lol
btw DZ you and I should call each other Home Girls. Do you know where White Springs is? I was born there sixty two years ago. My Mom went there to live with my Dad's mother when he left to go into Army. I was raised in Miami but my brother and I were sent there to spend the summers with my grandparents a lot of times. They had huge a farm...I think they were sharecroppers. They raised tobacco and cotten and they killed hogs and made sausage. Daddy didnt let us expierence the hog killing but once, because we started crying! hell we were only babies! LOL I saw cane made into syrup and oh so much stuff! Also my brother graduated from FAMU when he got out of the army...me? I am a UCONN girl myself! lol ....went straight to the north when I got out of
HS. :) Anyway I am rambling now...its best I go put these POTATOES back in the fridge. I got herbs to expieriment with.lol
be back with my list of herbs soon..
Sylvia
Dogzilla...whats Stevia?
I do not know where White Springs is, but it must be near these parts somewhere or you wouldn't have mentioned it. Although I've lived here for going on 8 years, I'm still sort of a newcomer in some ways. I'm a Yankee, originally from Ohio, but firmly transplanted into full-fledged Floridian.
Stevia is a tropical herb that's used as a sugar substitute. The Big Sugar industry (esp. in S. FL) is not to happy about stevia. It's fast-growing, easy to process and could put both Splenda and Sugar out of business. It's a different kind of sweetness, so it doesn't mess with diabetics' blood sugar like regular sugar does. I've found it at Target, Home Depot and my local native nurseries. In this forum, there have been several threads about stevia, to which I have posted. You're welcome to peruse those. You may also be interested in www.stevia.net. They go into growing and propagating as well as the politics surrounding this useful little plant. Harvested and processed properly, you can have a sweetener that's 200 times the sweetness of sugar. A bitty pinch will do ya. I have two plants and keep giving away cuttings and pups...
But rosemary roasted potatoes?.... droool. ;>)
I am confused.....Have you heard of Lake city? Stephen Foster memorial park? White Springs is closer there. I would like to try that Stevia :) ...wanna share I can send you postage. Is it a Perenial?
Sylvia
Yes, I know where Lake City is. Haven't heard of Stephen Foster mem. park though. I think White Springs must be about an hour away from Tallahassee. Does that sound right?
Stevia is a perennial. I just sent a bunch of cuttings to someone and they all died, so I think I would like to try to root some myself and then try to send you a whole plant. (Also to this other person.) Now I do travel to San Antonio every 3-4 months and my next trip will probably be near the end of August or early September. Is Dallas too many hours away from San Antone?
Here's that other thread about stevia. I noticed some people didn't see where I'd posted the stevia.net link and posted it again near the bottom. I guess that lends credibility to the link if several people posted it independently.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/495045/
Enjoy.
Sylvia, I have seeds for stevia from John316, if you want to try starting some. Germination was low for me, maybe 10%, but since I only wanted a couple of plants that was fine. I believe it is a tender perennial, so you have to bring it inside if temperatures drop near freezing.
Dog, I took a couple of cuttings from my Stevia a week or so ago and am trying to root them in water. Will that work?
I don't see why not. I have no idea why the cuttings I sent failed -- don't know what she did or didn't try. In fact, I advised rooting half in water and the other half in soil with rooting hormone. I suspect they might not root easily, so make many cuttings.
It is a tender perennial -- I would bring it inside when night temps get to around 45 or so.
My plant isn't yet big enough to make many cuttings, LOL! I was just trying to get a couple going as a backup. Maybe I'll stick them when I take some more scented geranium cuttings today. I was hoping they'd root easily in water the way basils & mints do!
Dog...I read thru that link....my goodness! You should have written that book a long time ago...talk about knowlege...you dont lack any! All the chemical components and stuff! I never felt so intimidated. LOL
...and yes White Spings is closer to Lake city...how far away is Tallahassee? I dont know...now that you have jogged my mind. lol
Wow Dog! I would love to meet up with you in San Antone ... never been there ... but I have always wanted to go and vist the Riverwalk. I think its a about a four hour drive ... My girlfriend is a Destination consultant ... let me see what she can come up with. Maybe I can treat myself for birthday... If I can afford it. I am going to Europe in March and I dont want to over extend myself! lol
CRIT...you are a sweetheart...but I dont want to waste your seeds. If I cant sow them in the ground...I am lost. lol I did manage to get some Onethera going once. I got about 15 or 20 packs of seed around here...ordered them from T&M too. I was going to get the electric apparatus and stuff with the lights and all ... but hell where am I going to put it? LOL Oh yeah...I do do well with Morning glories. lol. I will just wait for Dog to do her thing. LOL
Oh yes I got pics of some of my herbs to show you guys. I dont take good pics either :( I am only posting some. I will retake the others later.
Dog the first one is this Sorrell. I just grow it because it pretty and a perennial. I chewed on a piece and wasnt impressed at all. its one tough plant ...like leather. What do you use it for?
this is pretty...what is it? lol
I goofed
This message was edited Jun 8, 2005 11:36 PM
a little potpourri :)
I picked up a sorrel much like that at DeBaggio's recently. Mine has quite pronounced veining, and a bright, lemony sour flavor. The smaller leaves are quite tender, but the tag says it can get to 3 feet tall, so I imagine that the leaves might get leathery when they get that big! I haven't done anything with it except sample a few leaves, as it is still fairly small. I thought a few leaves would mix well with salad greens, or they could be chopped up and added to rice, and I'll bet if I wilted some swiss chard the sorrel would make a nice addition there also.
Is that second one maybe marjoram? (I can't read the label, LOL!)
Your basils look very nice! What kind is the one that's been blooming? If I'm not trying to get seed, I generally keep basils pinched back to 2 pairs of leaves per stem so they don't bloom, as the flavor seems to go a little bitter sometimes when a branch blossoms.
BTW, it's easier than you think to set up a couple of 40 watt florescent tubes over a couple of seedling flats.... My favorite post along those lines was somebody, don't remember who, posted a picture of a seedling flat on the floor under a couple of chairs, with a florescent fixture set across the rungs of the chairs to hold it over the flat.
However, I sprouted a couple of stevia seeds on sealed moist paper towel and then potted them up on the windowsill.... they never did make it under the lights! So LMK if you want to give it a try.
Sorrel is mostly used as a salad herb. It's in a lot of French cooking. I haven't grown it, tasted it or used it myself, but here's a link to more information: http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/s/sorcom64.html
I notice that it's highly acidic and at certain times of the year, won't have much flavor. Wait until it's about to flower and then nibble on it and see if it doesn't have a more pungent flavor.
That second plant -- I echo -- either looks like marjoram or some type of upright thyme. Use majoram as you would oregano -- I believe they're related.
Tallahassee is about an hour away from Lake City.
If you come to San Anotone (and I'll PM you when I know the dates I'll be there again), keep these two things on your agenda: The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin http://www.wildflower.org/, and the San Antonio Botanical Garden http://www.sabot.org/, which is OUTstanding. Riverwalk should be third on your list, as I understand there's a lot of great plants and gardens there as well. I have been to the Botanical gardens... they're really wonderful.
hmmm... that second pot looks a lot like the dwarf basil I grew last year... I think it was a lemony scented basil? It formed a very nice, uniform, dense mound of a plant... I'll have to look in my garden journal and figure out which seeds I planted in that spot.
"The Herbfarm Cookbook" by Jerry Traunfeld
I have purchased 4 copies of this book as gifts and have just about worn my own copy out. He gives wonderful hints on harvesting, growing and the recipes are great.
When placing my order today, I noticed that Fragrant Fields has a new "Cooking With Herbs" page on their website.... looks like it may be only partly done... http://www.fragrantfields.com/page.asp?id=5
Hey Guys I got more pics! and no I didnt take the name of them all will do this weekend...note on the Sorrell...its about three years old and it is suppose to grow three or four feet. It was just a tiny thing when i first bought it. I think maybe it root bound... or out grown the pot. I bought a much bigger pot to put it in...but when is a good time to do that?
Portisaw...thats is a Tangy Basil of some sort.
pic: some kind of oregano and Thyme on the left which need to repotted...its from last year.
If you come to San Anotone (and I'll PM you when I know the dates I'll be there again), keep these two things on your agenda:
I will ...I will... Dog...you got me so excited about that! ... the Botanical Garden too! I dont know how I am going to afford all this and keep my job too. lol...my GF want me to go to the Islands in September ...I dont think so! LOL I told you I am going to Italy in March too. :)
...more pics ....Rosemary ...I bought another one to get going...my other is about four years old.
two types of oregano. ...purple sage...another basil.
My plants look really limp because I just finished watering them down.
regular mint and apple mint in the same pot...big mistake....that stuff goes crazy. We make Mohitos;) with the apple mint...ge is it strong when you crush it down!
This is the trailing rosemary I ordered from Bentley Gardens in Ga a few months ago. Isnt it beautiful? I first saw this plant growing at the Vet where I take my cats. It had beautiful purple flowers on it ...just had to get it for its aesthetic(sp value. lol It is pungent!
The Herbfarm Cookbook" by Jerry Traunfeld
Sbjenton Where did you find your book? Sound wonderful ... Dog I tried everywhere ...even B&N to find your book ... no avail. Gee I want to make stuff for Christmas gifts...Lord...Lord I sound like I know what I am doing! LOL I am going to be practicing on friends LOL!
My old Rosemary tree... I use so much Rosemary..the tree look absolutely whacked! lol
I got another pic of two trailing mints...one is variagated....will show tommorrow...:)
My goodness Crit! Why did you show me this site? Its awsome! I was getting ready to sign off! I want to get to bed before 12:00 at least one night of the week! LOL! I love it!
Sylvia
The book I mentioned is on Amazon. You can get it used for $6.68.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0934026734/qid=1118405190/sr=8-4/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i4_xgl14/103-0214686-5311856?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
If you want mints from Fragrant Fields, check out juttz's thread about it.... she got us a deal! Just enter davesgarden in the discount code box when you check out...
Hey Dog ...I just ordered the book...cant wait to get it. you know the darndest thing happen ..when i clicked on that link they knew who I was ...where I live and had my cc number! I havent ordered anything from Amazon in four or five years and I was in school and I used my daddy's cc number. when it asked for password ... I was really floored when it took the one I always use. I cant remember ordering anything from them ...this is driving me crazy! lol Anyway I havent dropped you guys but my Spanish class started up again and you know at my age it takes every molecule I can muster. lol
CRITT....I took the deal ...also I ordered that Perennial Sage which was almost dead when I got it and is still dying. I got to call them on that!
Critt... I bought this one at Home Depot ... 1.95...its called Golden sage. It does not say anything about being a perennial but it look exactly like the one i got from Fragent Mints. do you think its the same thing?
Sylvia
DOG...I did use the Spicey Globe Basil to make mashed potatoes. I also put some elephant garlic in it that I baked off. The potatoes were good but I wished i had not put that garlic in it so I would have had a more pronouced taste. Here is the pic of the spicey globe basil. I also have cinnamon basil...purple sage..pineapple mint...creeping mint and the two i got from Fragent(?..and oh lawdy! the Oreganos...hot&spicey, creeping,greek, and Italian. What am I going to do with all these Oreganos? lol
Sylvia
Sylvia, that does look like a perennial sage, but I'm not sure there's any way to tell how hardy it is. I've never tried overwintering a sage indoors, but that might be your best bet if you can't figure out its hardiness. Wait, what am I saying, you live in Dallas, so you can undoubtedly leave it outside!
I have Hot & Spicy greek oregano too, and we love it! My very favorite oregano, 'Georges Greek', died off over the winter :-(, so I've been hunting a replacement. I picked up an oregano at the farmer's market today that was very nice, and IO1 sent me a wonderful one too, but I'm still hunting that particular variety.
As to what to do with it, I'll see if I can find my recipe (with actual measurements) for Greek Pasta Salad... balsamic vinegar, garlic, feta cheese, and a ton of oregano.... yummy. We use lots of oregano in our spaghetti sauce, too, even freeze cubes of herbs (minced in food processor with a little added garlic & olive oil but no salt) for use during the winter.
Critt...freezing herbs a good idea...never thought about that. I froze some cilantro today...can I use it in my salsa? The Basil is growing crazy outside, even the Spicy globe. I think Basil like this Texas heat...it grew the same way last year...I could'nt give it away fast enough...but now that i know I can freeze it I can save it for myself. lol
Sylvia