Summer Means Fresh Herbs

Grow fresh herbs this summer and enjoy them all year long. Choose perfect, mature herbs and harvest them before they flower. Remove yellow and damaged leaves. Then dry or freeze the herbs for later use.

Drying: Tie herbs into a bunch and hang them upside down in a dry, dark place away from light. Store dried herbs in airtight tins. When the moisture in herbs evaporates, their essential oils become more concentrated, intensifying their flavour. So use smaller amounts of dried herbs than fresh herbs. After a year, stores should be renewed. Most herbs shouldn’t be ground into powders because they lose a good deal of their flavour.

Freezing: Wipe leaves with a damp cloth to clean herbs. Store different types of herbs separately in freezer bags and put in freezer. Use frozen herbs in the same amounts as for fresh herbs. Throw away any unused thawed herbs.

If you bring your potted herbs inside for the winter, cut the plants back by half to strengthen them. Then keep them in a sunny spot.

Some Suggestions:

• Basil keeps very well in oil or chopped and frozen in an ice-cube tray.
• Snip and dry chives.
• Coriander, tarragon, mint and parsley can be chopped and frozen.
• Keep dried bay leaves, rosemary, sage and thyme in small bags.

Finally for basil, chervil, tarragon, mint and parsley to be added to soups and sauces, mince and freeze in ice-cube trays filled with water or oil. To flavour a dish, just add a cube while cooking.

Basil – Rich and fragrant, it enhances veal, poultry and rabbit and adds zip to zucchini, red and yellow peppers, sweet onions and salads. Basil is a natural with mozzarella, Parmesan and tomatoes and equally delicious with white-fleshed fish and seafood. The leaves can be kept in oil, but the flowers must be removed as soon as they appear as whorls on the ends of the branches, or the leaves will become bitter. Perfume the summer air with the heady scent of potted basil growing in a sunny spot. Mist and cut leaves regularly.

Bay leaf – Is normally used dried. Bay leaves are often added to pâtés or potatoes before baking. They can be put in the cooking water to add flavour to dried beans or lentils, vegetable or fish soups. The longer bay leaves cook, the more flavour they give, making them perfect for stews and slow-roasted ham or chicken.

Chervil – Is often mistaken for parsley because of its pale, lacy, green leaves. Chopped and frozen, it can be used year-round to make hearty soups, savoury stews and tasty omelettes.

Chives – Closely related to Welsh onion, which is also called spring onion or stone leek, its slender, hollow leaves are used to flavour soups, omelettes and fresh cheeses. Chives should be cut with scissors rather than a knife. Chives have lavender, ball-shaped flowers.

Coriander – Combined with raisins, coriander seeds give a flavour boost to brown rice, braised cabbage and onions. Add a few seeds to bottled pickles. The herb lends its spicy aroma to many exotic dishes, such as curries. It can boost the flavour of a bland stuffing, give sandwiches a sophisticated taste and turn simple noodle soup into a dish fit for a king.

Dill – Yellow dill flowers make a lovely bouquet. Dill leaves are a traditional flavouring for fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel) and creamy dishes (cucumber, cabbage, etc.) and are also good with beets, carrots, potatoes and hard-boiled eggs. The seeds are used to make sauerkraut, pickles and vinegar. Shake mature seed heads over a catch cloth, leave seeds out in the sun to dry then store in airtight bottles.

Mint – Both mild spearmint and spicy peppermint are used in everything from soups to desserts. Mint, often used with cucumber, peas, mushrooms and tomatoes, also enhances eggplant. The English love mint with lamb, but it is also delicious with pork or duck. When it’s time for dessert, mint can team up with strawberries, citrus fruit or chocolate and can be added to green tea to make the famous Moroccan sweet tea.

Oregano – Fantastic on pizza, it’s also great on grilled meats. Often found in tomato sauces and liberally sprinkled on Greek salads, oregano also brings out the best in poultry, omelettes and eggplant.

Parsley – An all-time favourite, parsley makes a tasty addition to vegetables, stews, poultry, eggplant and seafood. Chopped fresh parsley is a common ingredient of most dishes. A slice of bread spread with a fresh parsley, garlic, butter and salt ground into a paste is a healthy way to stave off hunger pangs.

Rosemary – Rosemary is for remembrance. Although used to flavour food, this strongly aromatic herb is not eaten. Add whole sprigs to marinades and slow-simmered stews, but first remove and chop leaves. Rosemary is excellent with lamb, veal, sardines, mushrooms, onions and spinach. Also associated with some sweets, rosemary is the ideal condiment for apple pie and citrus fruit salads.

Sage –Sage can be easily grown in a pot or window box. Its leaves have a pleasant spiciness that intensifies the flavour of pork, fish and stuffing. Sage sautéed in butter has a crunchy texture and a hint of hazelnut. Sprinkled with Parmesan on pasta, it’s irresistible. Add sage leaves to batter for savoury fritters that will start a feeding frenzy!

Tarragon – This herb should always be used fresh because drying robs it of taste. It can be frozen in bunches. A few leaves on artichokes, carrots, potatoes, lettuce or tomatoes will leave a pleasant aftertaste. To make tarragon vinegar, stick four or five bunches in a litre bottle of cider vinegar. Shake from time to time and filter.

Thyme – Fresh or dried, thyme is good sprinkled on red meat, grilled or baked fish, tomato salad, green beans and peas. Adding a sprig to the cooking water gives boiled vegetables a flavour boost.