What do you do with your herbs?

[amandaandherveg]

Apart from enjoying them in your garden and cooking with them - what do other Grapes do with their herbs.

[Printemps]

I adore fresh herbs and at this time of the year when it's BBQ time I use 8"-10" lengths of rosemary as skewers, having removed most of the leaves which then go into the BBQ fire. I cannot imagine eating tomatoes without fresh basil, at which point I must thank whoever it was who told us how to take cuttings of basil, I've now got loads of very strong plants to keep me happy!

To a plain green salad I invarariably snip majoram and thyme, along with this year's first for me - watercress. Sorel leaves get added to the salad bowl too. Along with salt and pepper I put handfuls of homegrown dill to make my own gravalax. Both mint leaves and borage flowers go into my Pimms. Some mint I dry to use over winter as I find it keeps its flavour much more if stored in a rare brown paper bag, whereas the young fresh leaves get turned into jars of mint sauce. Tarragon is a favourite with chicken and the rosemary leaves get pushed into slashes in lamb together with oodles of garlic. I love freshly snipped chives on soft and creamy scrambled eggs. Fresh, finely chopped garlic on haricot beans. Gosh - I'm beginning to salivate. I just know that herbs are essential in my kitchen. Oh I nearly forgot - freshly chopped mint and butter on new potatoes! Yummy!

Outside of adding them to cooking, I also turn lavender heads into scented sachets with oats for heated comfort pillows, many herbs sit happily in vases with flowers and oils and vinegars also get flavoured with an assortment of herbs. :-)

[zazen999]

I squish them in my fingers when I'm wandering round the garden.

[Snadger]

I relish weeding my herb bed! All those aromas!

[ginger ninger]

Apart from enjoying them in your garden and cooking with them - what do other Grapes do with their herbs.

Hi,
I buy a small bottle of olive oil and put some rosemary sprigs in to flavor it, yummy drizzled on pork chops before cooking, , lavender in bath water is very relaxing, sage leaves in hot water helps with athlete's foot and it also smells nice, as they say " The possibilities are endless "... Enjoy.
Treat yourself to James Wong's book " GROW YOUR OWN DRUGS " its a really good read.

[sarraceniac]

Printemps. I won't quote all that lot but.... have you got a recipe for gravalax that can be made in smallish quantities? All I can find are recipes that start 'take a full fillet of salmon'. We both love gravalax but don't want to make a full side of salmon. Somehow we don't fancy freezing it.

[valmarg]

I got this idea from Birds Eye. They used to sell small packs of frozen freshly chopped herbs. They were very expensive.

What I do now is buy the biggest bunches of parsley I can find, wash them, trim the tops. spin them in the salad spinner, finely chop in the food processor, loosely pack in tubs and freeze.

Parsley sauce is a doddle.

Also, keep the stalks for adding to stock.

Also do similar with chives. Pick, wash, dry, snip into freezer boxes.

Two tastes of Spring later in the year.

valmarg

[COMPOST CORNER]

I have frozen chopped Coriander in ice cubes to drop into soups in winter, but as mate of mine just freezes stalks of Coriander. It seems to work OK.

[LostGoddess]

Also do similar with chives. Pick, wash, dry, snip into freezer boxes.

I did this with all the chives we chopped down this week. Bagged them up, some chopped some left longer, and now my freezer smells amazing
Done the same with copious pots of parsley we've grown this year, because I was determined not to go through another winter having chicken soup with bought dried parsley. My freezer looks like a herb library!

I can't think of anything I do with herbs that hasn't been mentioned, but the more we grow the more I use and the more we enjoy them in our food.
I think Calendula counts as a herb, so I could add that I am currently freezing all the flower heads that SO will allow me to cut. When I have enough I am going to make soothing Calendula cream a la Sarah Raven.

[elleme]

I'll remember that tip with the parsley. I don't seem to have a lot of luck with growing it - evidently I don't wear the pants in my housefold - but it justifies buying a big bunch (which I won't use up in a week) instead of those stingy little packets.

Apart from flavouring food I make tea with some herbs. Mint, lemon balm, and I've recently bought lemon verbena to use as well. The latter two are reputed to have a calming effect - so is catmint, but I hated the taste of it. I'll also use the mint in a glass of Pimms and will do the same with borage once I've sown some - though I'm mainly getting that as a bee plant. In spite of my herbal tea-making, I drink a heck of a lot of black tea - maybe I should find room for Camellia sinesis in there!

[OllieMartin]

Chives - tuna pasta dishes, egg mayonnaise sandwhiches, potato salads
Coriander - Mainly curries and chili
Parsley - I freeze, I've also made pesto with it before which is pretty nice
thyme - I don't use this in any real quantities, but if the 3 bushes get too big I'l strip them and dry it and keep it in a jar.
Mint- Mojitos mainly, and cooked with peas or potatoes
Rosemary - Everything! I particularly love it with roasted potatoes, olive oil and sea salt, yum-yum

[valmarg]

I forgot, when the Bramley cooking apples are ready, we make mint jelly and rosemary jelly, to go with lamb during the winter (recipe available on request).

valmarg

[Tam]

No-Cook Mint Chutney recipe ? All recipes UK This is a good recipe for a very quickly produced mint chutney.

[lainey lou]

I think Calendula counts as a herb, so I could add that I am currently freezing all the flower heads that SO will allow me to cut. When I have enough I am going to make soothing Calendula cream a la Sarah Raven.

Do you have a recipe for this please LG?
This week I made some lovely apple and lavender jelly.
Herb butters always store well in the freezer.
I use mint and rosemary for teas.

[Hans Mum]

I forgot, when the Bramley cooking apples are ready, we make mint jelly and rosemary jelly, to go with lamb during the winter (recipe available on request).

valmarg

yes please