There are many herbs that are great for cooking, as well as some that are just ornamentals.  Here are some long time favorites!

Curly parsley

Parsley

I always thought of parsley as a relatively boring herb, better suited for garnish than cooking.  But the first time I tasted Parsley Boiled Potatoes, I was a convert–how much difference can a little parsley make!

Cultivation:  Soak seeds for 24 hours before planting.  Discard seeds after one year.  Fairly winter hardy and will last outdoors part way into our chilly Wisconsin winters.

Harvest: Harvest outside leaves first.

Varieties:  Curled parsley is good for salads, dips, garnish.  Flat Italian parsley is stronger and better for cooking.

Cooking Notes:  Parsley is highly nutritious.

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Lemon Basil from Rare Earth CSA

Basil

Basil in the classic pesto herb (though cilantro, arugula and other herbs work great too).  I freeze mass quantities of pesto every year to get me through the long cold winters and love adding it to a Tomato Feta Salad every fall!

Cultivation:  Basil hates cold even more than most herbs so wait to plant until nights are consistently over 50.  According to Nino, basil may “sulk all summer” if it gets too cold in the spring .   Seeds last 4-5 years, though some varieties won’t grow from seed.  Needs lots of nitrogen so fertilize once or twice over the summer.

Harvest: Pick tips including flower buds; do not pick single large leaves.

Varieties:  many varieties including lemon, purple, cinnamon…

Cooking Notes:  Good with tomatoes, stir fries, eggs, vegetables.  Also consider making purple basil vinegar.

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Rosemary in bloom

Rosemary

Rosemary is another herb that can make potatoes sing!  Try roasting potatoes with rosemary when you have the boring potato blues!

Cultivation:  Rosemary is a tender perennial and doesn’t like to be pot bound.  It is hard to grow from seed so take cuttings or buy plants.  In cool climates, may overwinter indoors in a cool brightly lit spot–don’t fertilize or water too much during dormant period from November to mid-February.  (I have also seen rosemary survive in pots that are buried then covered with thick quilts even in chilly Wisconsin.)

Harvest: Picking tips encourages bushiness.

Cooking Notes:  Use sparingly until you are used to cooking with fresh rosemary.  Good with meat and poultry, potatoes, breads, soups & stews.

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Thyme–one of my favorite fresh cooking herbs!

Thyme

This year I started cooking a lot with fresh thyme.  From Sun-dried Tomato and Spinach Quiche to Roasted Vegetable Galette to tossing it into dishes willy-nilly, it is one of my “go to” herbs for jazzing up a new recipe!

Cultivation:   Other than lemon thyme the culinary varieties of thyme can be grown from seed.  Many (but not all) are winter hardy as far north as zone 4.  Thyme can also  be overwintered indoors.

Harvest:  Harvest regularly in small quantities to encourage growth.  Do not remove more than 1/4 of the leaves in the fall or the plant will not survive the winter.

Varieties:   There are many varieties, some of which are ornamental only.  Ornamental thyme must be grown from division or cuttings.  Popular culinary varieties include German thyme, lemon thyme, and French thyme (less winter hardy).

Cooking Notes:  Can be used dried or fresh in cooking.  Good for soups, stews, salads, breads.  _____________________________________________________________________________________________.

Sage in the front of a pot of herbs

Sage

The best chicken soup I ever had was dense with vegetables and full of the robust flavor of sage, served for Thanksgiving at my mother’s retirement community.  Hmmm, I wonder if they would give out the recipe…

Cultivation:   Hardy in zones 4-10, sage can grow into a small shrub-like plant.  Some “sage” is not actually sage, for example, the popular flowering plant Russian Sage, is actually a member of the mint family.

Harvest:    Sage blooms on the second year wood, so the usual pruning directions don’t apply.  It should be cut after it blooms in July.

Cooking Notes:    Nino likes pineapple sage in fruit salad and tea and sage is a classic Thanksgiving dressing ingredient .

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Oregano, well perennialized in our herb garden

Oregano

Nothing says Italian cooking like oregano.  ‘Nuf said??

Cultivation:  Most oregano is hardy to zone 5, with some tendencies to invasiveness.  I can testify that mine completely overpowered the thyme, I planted next to it!  But it has survived over a decade outdoors through some bad Wisconsin winters.

Harvest:  Harvest regularly and cut it back hard in June when it starts to flower.

Varieties:   Nino feels that the best cooking variety is Greek oregano.  Some varieties have little flavor and are grown as ornamentals.

Cooking Notes:  Good in Italian cooking and especially with tomatoes.  Also good in soups, stews and salad dressing.

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Miscellaneous Herb Notes

Besides these herbs, there are many more that are a delight to work with.

Nino commented that if she doesn’t know what herb to add, she will often use marjoram.  It is considered a tender perennial (USDA zones 7-9) and I kept this alive all last winter in a pot, using it in a delicious braised chicken dish and beef stew.

Marjoram–a winter survivor!

Mint comes in many flavors but can be invasive, so consider growing in containers.  Every year, we overwinter peppermint in the garage where it dies down, then pops up faithfully when spring arrives.  One year I grew a stevia plant next the mint and we could do sweetened tea in one snip of the scissors!

A peppermint plant making a run for it across the lawn

Cilantro and dill both bolt (get leggy and go to seed when they get uncomfortably warm) easily.  Despite my love of both of these herbs, I am letting my CSAs grow them for me (Nino recommends planting in succession, that is starting new plants every few weeks.)  Dill seeds are considered more flavorful than the leaves and flowers and as such are an important ingredient in most “pickling spice.”

Chives in bloom

Chives blossoms are a great addition to homemade wine vinegar, as are many other herbs.

No green thumb–or too busy for gardening?  Fresh herbs are so readily available that there is no excuse not to take advantage.  Me?  I should have bought stock in the herb growers who supply fresh herbs to grocery stores–even more inspiration for growing my own now!

A collection of herbs

This year, I am doing a proper herb garden and just put a number of plants in containers to complement the perennials in my garden–all following an herbal inspiration event!  I have a couple more plants to buy, but I couldn’t wait to share!

Last month, the Garden Room, in Shorewood, WI,  hosted an evening class on growing and cooking with herbs.  It was taught by Nino Ridgway who can otherwise be found selling herbs and dispensing wisdom at Barthel’s Fruit Farm.  Some of her tips (and a few of my own) are covered below.

The Garden Room, our herb class host

Did you know that most common culinary herbs owe their popularity to Mediterranean cooking?   With this type of warm, fair-weather heritage, it is not surprising that they like lots of sun along with drier, rocky soils.  For gardeners in damp climates with clay soils, it may be necessary to amend the soil with sand or gravel  or to plant herbs in raised beds or rock gardens .

Growing herbs in containers is another popular and practical option; containers are similar to raised beds with their tendency to dry out more rapidly. For windowsill gardens, Nino recommended keeping herbs in separate pots so that they can be rotated to each get their fair share of sun.  But if you really want to plant herbs together, just cut back the more aggressive plants  as they start to take over.  Repot “when they start to look bad” which may be as long as every two to three years.   Some potted perennial herbs may survive over the winter in a garage where they don’t freeze and thaw a lot or in a pot buried in the ground and heavily mulched–or of course inside in a sunny window.

Nino Ridgeway teaching class

Herbs have relatively few pest problems.  If a potted herb does suffer an infestation, transferring it outdoors, where beneficial insects are abundant, may be all that it takes to deal with pests.  If summer is too far off to wait for a move outside, a safe soap, mixed with distilled or non-salt-softened soft water (because the calcium in hard water binds the soap), can be used.

Did you know that flowering can negatively affect the flavor of many herbs?  This means that any flowering tendencies should be “nipped in the bud” .  When the buds first appear, remove a piece of the herb down to the next closest node to encourage more leaf growth and keep the flavor at its peak.  Herbs should be harvested frequently and dried or frozen if not needed fresh.

Coming up…Popular Herbs: Growing and Cooking Tips!

Blackberry Mint Iced Tea

I am a long time fan of hot tea, which I started drinking in college while studying in Ireland.  When in Rome… you know.

Brewing Tea

But in summer I want something refreshing.  This means cold, with volumes of liquid, lots of flavor, reasonable calories–and easy to prepare if course.  Water?  Good but dull.  Lemonade?  Great–if I have fresh lemons.  Iced tea on the other hand is always available and has the added bonus of lots of antioxidants.  But I had never quite warmed up to it.

Today, we finally got some more nice warm weather and I was looking through my pantry.  Hmmm, blackberry syrup.  Unopened and  about two years old–guess that qualifies for my Kitchen Cupboard Spring Cleaning Challenge. Could I kill two birds with one stone?

Mint and Blackberry Syrup

I hit the internet for recipes and came across one for Blackberry Iced Tea.  It called for making a syrup with blackberries and fresh mint (which we have in pots every summer).   I decided to simplify it and use my syrup instead, tossing the mint in to steep with the tea rather than the berries.

The berry sweetness and light mintiness blended wonderfully with the flavor of the tea.  On a slow day, I might actually try making my own syrup and I am confident that any berry-based syrup would be delicious in this.

Over two days, I made two pitchers which both mysteriously disappeared.  Hey summer, I’m ready!

Blackberry Mint Tea with Pitcher

Blackberry Mint Iced Tea

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

• 4 black or green tea bags or equivalent in loose tea (I used English Breakfast)
• 1 sprig of mint (I used peppermint), plus more for garnish if desired
• 1 1/2 c boiling water
• 1 large glass of ice
• 1/4 c blackberry syrup (or other fruit syrup)
• 2 c cold water

Directions

1. Boil water then pour 1 1/2 cups over tea bags and mint sprig
2. Let steep for about 5 minutes.
3. Put a glassful of ice into a pitcher, then pour hot tea over this. Stir to cool
4. Add 2 c of cold water and 1/4 cup blackberry syrup.  Stir until combined.
5. Serve over ice, garnished with a sprig of mint if desired.

Blackberry Mint Iced Tea Served Outdoors

Kitchen Cupboard Spring Cleaning Challenge Tally So Far…

1. Vegetable (Hearts of Palm) Dip
2. Super Simple Sugared Nuts
3. Blueberry Lemon Sugar Muffins
4. Rustic Rye Bread
5. Beef Liver
6. Onion Jam
7. Sun Dried Tomatoes
8. Eggs
9. Dates
10. Carrots
11. Blackberry Syrup

A lot of really tasty muffins are loaded with fat and sugar–you might as well eat a cupcake.  Then there are the healthy versions–some of which are heavy enough to use as a weapon.   This carrot and oat bran muffin is both healthy and tasty…really!

Carrot Oat Bran muffin with tea

The original recipe came from Woman’s Day Magazine ages ago but I have modified it extensively over the decades  years.  I had forgotten about it until my Kitchen Cupboard Spring Cleaning Challenge, in which I fail to try to use one old ingredient from my kitchen every other day.

As I was going through a list of potential old food,  I remembered some dates that I bought in quantity years ago, then grew tired of.  And as an added bonus I got to use carrots that were lurking in the basement refrigerator from last year’s CSA.  Still good, if a bit… ugly.

Last year’s carrots!

With only 1/3 cup of sugar, these muffins are not cakey sweet, but have more of a brightness–especially with the flavorful dates and oaty goodness from the oat bran. If you are feeding someone with more of a sweet tooth, you can always increase the sugar a bit.

This week in our house, schedules are crazy.  It is final exam week and, if that weren’t enough, my two older kids just started summer jobs.  This means that the muffins (we are now on batch #3) have come in especially handy–don’t you love not feeling guilty when you eat on the run!

Eating a Carrot Oat Bran Muffin

Carrot  Oat Bran Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 1 c unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 c oat bran
• 1/3 c brown sugar (increase to 1/2 c if you like things sweeter)
• 1 T baking powder
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 c shredded carrots
• 1/4 c butter
• 2/3 c  milk
• 1 t vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c chopped dates
• 1/4 c chopped walnuts

Directions

1.  Mix flour, oat bran, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and shredded carrots.

2.  Melt the butter and combine with milk and vanilla.  Add beaten eggs.

Carrot Oat Bran Muffin Ingredients

3.  Mix wet and dry ingredients until just combined and stir in dates and nuts.  Spoon into muffin cups filling mostly to the top since they don’t rise a lot.

Fill muffin cups

Carrot Oat Bran Muffins in pan

4.  Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes until starting to turn golden.

Carrot Oat Bran Muffin Platter

5.  Let cool before eating (unlike many muffins, these are better at room temperature).

Carrot Muffins

Kitchen Cupboard Spring Cleaning Challenge Tally So Far…

1. Vegetable (Hearts of Palm) Dip
2. Super Simple Sugared Nuts
3. Blueberry Lemon Sugar Muffins
4. Rustic Rye Bread
5. Beef Liver
6. Onion Jam
7. Sun Dried Tomatoes
8. Eggs
9. Dates
10. Carrots