| ANISE |
Crushed seeds used to make a tea to aid digestion and whole seeds as flavor to cakes and
biscuits, bread and vegetables such as beetroot and cabbage.
|
| BASIL |
Basil is the culinary herb par excellence and grown for its smooth, oval, glossy leaves
that give off a spicy clove-like scent when crushed.Uses
Basil and tomatoes complement one another perfectly, and form the basis of most
Mediterranean dishes. Use the chopped leaves
freely with eggs and pasta and basil vinegar as a salad dressing. Always use fresh leaves,
if available, to retain flavor.
|
| BAY |
The leaves can be used either fresh or dried in soups and stews to tenderize the meat and add flavor. Milk
puddings take on a subtle taste if a leaf is used during cooking.
|
| CORIANDER |
Both seeds and leaves are used in a variety of dishes – the leaves in curries and
other oriental recipes and the seeds in sweet and spicy foods.
|
| CURRY PLANT |
A small sprig of the curry plant added to curries and roast meat/chicken dishes imparts a
subtle spicy flavor, typical of Indian cooking.
|
| DILL |
Fresh leaves can be used in fresh egg and fish dishes or added as a garnish for
vegetables. The seeds, which are more pungent, are used to pickle cucumbers and to flavor
such vegetables as cabbage, turnips or added to stews
and salad dressings. A concoction made from the seeds
was formerly used to relieve babies of wind and adults of hiccoughs.
|
| FENNEL |
Fresh leaves enhance any fish dish as a stuffing or garnish and finely chopped they add a distinctive tang to salads. Add
seeds to cakes and biscuits and as a substitute for dill in pickles. Fennel tea, brewed
from seeds, is still a traditional method for settling the stomach and dulling hunger
pangs.
|
| MARJORAM |
Fresh or dry, the leaves are used to flavor forcemeats, soups and stews. Marjoram teas produce a soothing drink. Add
leaves to any pot pourri mixture.
|
| MINT |
Use mints while boiling potatoes or as mint
chutney. Chop them into salads or add to drinks
such as tea, mint julep and summer punches. Peppermint, fresh or dried, makes the classic
tea for soothing troubled stomachs or head colds. Commercially it is used as a flavoring
in confectionary, toothpaste and medicines.
|
| OREGANO |
It is a kitchen favorite, used in meats and salads.
|
| PARSLEY |
Fresh leaves can be added to innumerable dishes or brewed as a tea. But parsley is a
diuretic so do not drink too much of it!!
|
| ROSEMARY |
Rosemary and meat combine together so well that it is hard to think of one without the
other, but it also makes a good companion to sausages and steak. It is the base for many
natural beauty products, including hair rinses, bath oils and various face creams. A
natural for pot pourris.
|
| SAGE |
Essential for forcemeats, sausage-making and mixing with other herbs, sage will also make
a refreshing tea from either fresh or dried leaves.
|
| TARRAGON |
Only use tarragon fresh, adding chopped leaves
to flavor chicken, fish, eggs and salads. It is one of the finest herbs and a
classic sauce ingredient.
|
| THYME |
Fresh or dry thyme is used in a wide variety of dishes, particularly meats and in soups, stews and as a specialty butter and cheese. A tea
is a good antiseptic mouthwash and good all round relief for sore throats and colds. |
