Honor Your Herbs

Do you grow herbs at home? If the answer is no, then quit screwing around and get to it. Fact is, most if not all of what you love is relatively easy to produce, and tastes far superior to anything dried or ‘fresh’ from a grocery store.

Even if you live in a tiny space, you can do up a single pot with three or four things you fancy – and time of year doesn’t matter much for that project. If you’ve got outdoor garden space, then herbs are a must. Let alone fresh flavors, I’m here to tell you that grabbing a paring knife and heading out the door to peruse and choose is a delight for the senses – scent, sight, texture – it’s a lovely zen cooking moment.

What you grow is absolutely up to you – it’s such an individual journey, I’m not going to suggest a thing. What I will suggest is that you maximize your pleasure once they’re up and growing. As you’ll see from the images here, our herbs are extremely happy, enjoying warm sunny days after cool rainy ones. It would be easy to write something like ‘they’re running late this year,’ but what the hell does that even mean in our world? Now more than ever, we just need to accept and appreciate what we get when we get it.

If you’re out picking, cut a couple good sized stems from the ones you realize you’ve not paid enough attention to lately. Bring those in, put them in a little jar with fresh water, and set them right by your primary prep area – let that be your reminder to include whatever it is a bit more often.

Think about using herbs where you generally don’t and expand your horizons – love hen nuts for breakfast? There’s little more delicious than fluffy scrambled eggs with fresh herbs. Add ‘em to a sandwich and make it extraordinary. Put ‘em in your salad mix and not just in dressing – your taste buds will thank you.

If something starts to bolt so quickly that there’s no way to keep up with it, think preserve or extend – let it go to seed, like this cilantro is doing and later, gather up fresh coriander seed. We enjoy a steady stream of volunteers in our garden beds each year, all of which stem from letting nature do its thing – the results are always a wdelight and keep things nicely diversified as well.

Harvest a bunch of whatever it is that’s going wild right at peak freshness and dry it. You don’t need to strip things down too much – take stems of rosemary, oregano, thyme, what ever you have, and let them air dry on a clean kitchen towel. Once dried, gently strip the leaves, separate out the stems, and freeze in clean, airtight glass jars. Pull out what you need when you need it, and of course keep some in your usually herb storage area as well – that stuff will overwinter just fine with very reasonable potency.

Make your own herb blends. From Herbs de Provence to Italian, Greek, and Mexican, or whatever you happen to love, pre-blended mixes save a time and are a great use during abundant growth years. Always keep in mind that whatever gets called a ‘classic’ mix is nothing more than a guideline – every Nonna and Abuela makes their own version and you should too.

Donate herbs to your local food bank. These folks are thrilled enough when they get salt and pepper, but lay some serious variety on them, and they’ll be turning cartwheels. Blends are especially appreciated here, so once again, if your place is growing like gangbusters, make the best use you can of the bounty and share the love the way it aughta be shared.