I do enjoy Facebook! Because my friends have such diverse interests, I get to read articles that I might never have encountered were it not for perusing Facebook posts. In this case, I’ve been overwhelmed with work (love that) which cuts into my skulking about the internet looking for fun stuff.
Here’s a link to an article from NPR on the Eastern and Western use of spices that I just read (no it’s not new–only new to me) and enjoyed.
Now that you have all those lovely herbs growing in your kitchen garden (or just in containers) you need to get them into the kitchen and use them. There are some general things that apply to harvesting and using almost all herbs in order to get the best flavor in your dishes.
Even though there are “classic” combinations (e.g. basil and tomatoes) don’t be afraid to experiment…that’s the point of having this selection available at your kitchen door! Smell and taste the leaves of your herbs. Think about the dish you’re cooking, how you feel today….
Try something different–fresh oregano or marjoram with the pasta sauce today; or maybe even tarragon or fennel with tomatoes. (Yes, the leaves of that Florence/bulb fennel can be used as seasoning too.) Experiment! Taste! Smell! That’s what herbs are all about.
In reading through cookbooks, you’ll find may different opinions about when to harvest, whether or not you want herbs to bloom. Here are a few generalizations about growing, harvesting, and using those wonderful plants that come from my experience:
freezer bags. You can cut off what you need. This has the advantage of not adding additional water, and I think that it keeps flavor better than water and is more versatile. The approximate proportions for this would be 1/4 cup oil for each gently packed cup of fresh herbs. This works with basil, tarragon, marjoram, oregano, dill and cilantro.Turkish (sweet) bay (Laurus nobilis)
Bay (Laurus nobilis)
This may be an herb that is associated more with winter cuisine because it is so frequently used in soups, stews, and braises which are typical of cool weather cooking. Once you have used the fresh rather than dried leaves, it will be an all-season herb.
Culinary bay (Laurus nobilis) is often called bay laurel, sweet bay or Turkish bay. The botanical name is important for this herb as there is another, California bay (Umbellularia californica), that is often found as “bay”. The flavor of the California bay is more medicinal with a strong camphor smell that is much different from the complex flavors of true bay laurel. There is a whole new experience waiting when you use fresh bay laurel leaves in cooking.
This herb is “picky” to grow, but well worth the effort. To grow bay laurel, you will need to buy a plant from a reputable source so that you can be sure that you are getting Laurus nobilis since the California bay lacks the “sweetness” of true bay. True bay is more expensive than most herbs because it’s difficult to propagate and is slow-growing. You’ll likely (depending on climate where you live) want to grow your bay in a container in order to move it inside in the wintertime, at least until it is about 24 inches tall when the stems will be somewhat woody and better able to withstand cold.
Bay needs sun, but too intense sunlight will burn the leaves–so having it in a pot will let you move it around and discover the best site for it. It also needs fertile soil, evenly moist but well-drained. It should never be allowed to dry out completely or it’s likely to die. This is an herb that will need a container all to itself. If you need to bring it indoors to winter over, you’ll need to put it where there is plenty of light and where it is well ventilated–best in a cooler area. While indoors bay is susceptible to some pests like mealy bugs, scale, and aphids so you must watch it closely.
Basil (Ocimum basilicum)
Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum)
If there is a summer herb, as dried bay might be considered a winter herb, it is most likely basil (Ocimum basilicum), especially the sweet, large-leaf, Italian basil. Say tomato, and I’m sure a lot of “foodies” would immediately say basil. It is a tender annual that will not winter over–so it’s a spring event when you can plant basil and anxiously await that first harvest. I suspect that basil would be at the top of a list of herbs grown by home gardeners–especially as it is so strongly associated with tomatoes. There are many varieties of basil (purple, Thai, holy, cinnamon, lemon, and lime, globe for just a few) but we’ll start with the most common: sweet or Genovase basil.
To grow basil, you can start with seed or buy plants. It is a heat-loving herb so you need to wait for warm weather to plant it outdoors (generally night-time temperatures need to stay above 50 ° F). You can get a head start if you plant seeds indoors. Once the weather is warm, you can gradually get your plants used to the outdoors, and finally plant them out. For your first time of growing basil, you should probably just buy plants. Even so, if you plant your basil outdoors while the temperatures are too cool, you’re likely to have stunted plants that will never do really well.
Basil can be grown in the vegetable garden, herb garden, or in containers. It needs average soil (so it will do well in that potting soil that you got from the garden center) but needs plenty of water (even moisture, not allowed to dry out between waterings) but must be well-drained. It needs lots of sun, but it does not like the drier, poorer soil conditions that some of the Mediterranean herbs will tolerate; however, basil will not do well in soil that is too rich either (don’t fertilize too much)–that will make it less fragrant since it will contain less of the essential oils. This means that you should not plant basil in the same container as other Mediterranean herbs like sage.
As you start your basil plants, you want to pinch the growing tips so that the plants will branch sideways and be full and bushy. Basil flowers readily, but after flowering the flavor declines so be rigorous in pinching the flowering tips.
There is one serious fungus disease (fusarium wilt) that can affect basil–it turns the leaves black and will kill plants in a short time. This is a disease that is carried by seeds–so if you are starting your basil from seed, buy seeds that have been tested and are known to be disease free. Should you get this disease in your plants, the only thing you can do is (literally) trash them–don’t throw the diseased plants in the compost or that will be contaminated too, and the disease can be transmitted to tomatoes and basil plants on which that compost is used.
Oregano (Origanum vulgare subsp. hirtum)
Greek oregano (Origanum vulgare, subsp. hirtum)
There are many types of oregano which vary markedly in the intensity of flavor. Likely the one most commonly found in the supermarket or in the garden center is common or wild oregano (Origanum vulgare subsp. vulgare). I like to grow the true Greek oregano (subspecies hirtum) for my use as it is very spicy and has an intense flavor. It is a less vigorous growing plant than the common, but still easy to grow. While you can start oregano from seed, it takes a long time to germinate and is slow-growing so unless you have lots of patience, buy a plant to start your herb garden. The best way to tell what you’re getting it to smell and/or taste a leaf from the plant that you’re going to buy. If you have never tasted Greek oregano, you are in for a wonderful treat–it’s much more flavorful and more peppery than the common oregano (which is what is most likely in those supermarket packs and in the garden center).
The two basics for growing oregano are sun and well-drained soil; given these it is a vigorous grower. It is a perennial so once you get it started, it will stay with you for quite some time and generally be quite carefree to grow. As with most herbs, it benefits from being used frequently or having the growing tips pinched occasionally to encourage it to branch and be a bushy, rather than a leggy, lanky plant.
A word of warning: if you are also growing common oregano (see also Marjoram), don’t put it near your other species of oregano–it spreads by underground off-shoots (stolons) and by seeding itself, and it can (and likely will) replace your prized Greek (or other) oregano. You might plant your Greek oregano in a container with sage, but not with other species of oregano or with marjoram.
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These three herbs would have to be part of absolute bare necessities, along with parsley, sage, thyme, and rosemary, for my cooking. The longer I cook, the more herbs I want to have available for spontaneous use: I’ve added tarragon, epazote and shiso (perilla), and lavender to what I’ve come to consider the “necessities”. Every growing season is likely to find me adding another herb–this year it’s lime basil. I’m waiting rather impatiently for the plant to be large enough to harvest some leaves and do something more than nibble on a leaf and contemplate where I’ll use it!
One of the perennial problems with liking to improvise, and wanting to have a well-stocked pantry is that one person uses things more slowly than you would cooking for a family of four. I think that it’s important to store supplies carefully in closed containers rather than bags or boxes which can let some interesting beasties into your staple supplies. For years, I carefully cleaned and saved glass jars and their lids. Great solution? Well–until the lid loses its seal.
Then what do you do? My solution was to buy some Mason canning jars (Ball or Kerr) with wide mouths, in the pint and quart sizes. They are inexpensive, and lids are no longer a problem. The same lids fit all the jars, so I’m not standing around with a jar full of something and trying to find a lid to fit. The rings last, and last–a bit like the Energizer bunny–and you can replace the seals as needed! I think that my kitchen shelves even look rather nice…but then I kind of like a homey look.
If your pantry space is cramped, the wide-mouth jars stack well! Another advantage of the wide-mouth jars is that a 1/4-cup dry measuring cup will fit through the mouth of the 
jar easily–so you can dip and measure from the easily. Got to store that 10-pounds of rice that was such a great price? Well the same lids will fit the half-gallon jars.
With some minimal additional equipment you can even put food by in these same jars–just be sure that you have new lids if you’re going to use them for long-term preserving of foods.
I was recently faced with answering a question on an application for employment that really made me think about herbs and spices. The question: What is your favorite spice or seasoning, on what do you use it? My first inclination was herbs and spices, and I use them on everything, but I decided that was inappropriate, and gave some thought to the matter.
Well, I’ve decided that I cannot say that I have a favorite herb or spice! My difficulty in answering this question is that I love most herbs and spices (not really sure about asafoetida yet), and that my preferences change seasonally, and even with the weather within any particular season. I likely will not season haricots verts in the middle of the winter as I might with the first fresh ones off the bush in the spring. Crisp autumn weather leads me to use “warmer” herbs and spices than during the heavy, humid summer heat, when I want cool and refreshing seasoning.
As a person who cooks for one and sometimes has several servings of the same vegetable, fruit or meat in a relatively short period of time, I find that one of the best ways not to get that “leftover” flavor is to use different herbs and spices with the same vegetable or meat at different times. When I come home from the farmers’ market with a huge bunch of greens, I may prep them so that I can use them in multiple ways: first, I may sauté some simply seasoned with good extra-virgin olive oil salt and fresh-ground black pepper. The second time I use them, I may add onion, or sweet peppers, and if there is a third use, maybe more robust seasonings like garlic, crushed red pepper flakes. Sometimes I open up the drawer where my herbs and spices live and just open jars and sniff to determine what I’ll use. I suppose that I have to admit that even mood affects how I season things! (I have the same difficulty answering the similar question about what is my favorite color, and to me herbs and spices are very much like painting with a palette of colors.)
There are classic pairings, such as basil with tomatoes, which are wonderful, but fresh sweet marjoram is also wonderful with those luscious summer tomatoes; so is Greek oregano and Syrian oregano, though I suppose I tend to use those even more in the winter or at least cooler weather. Classic combinations not withstanding, I love the process of seasoning my food–of smelling the individual components and blending, and tasting the results, and that is a large part of cooking for me to fit my taste for a particular ingredient, or season, or mood. Seasoning can make cooking for one a delight–a son goût!
I’m left without an answer to the question that started all this! In looking at my selection of herbs (dried in the drawer, or fresh in the pots on my deck) I simply cannot say that there is a favorite. I have very few prepared mixes of herbs or spices, usually choosing to do my own blends.
I’m not intending to denigrate pre-mixed seasonings, at all, if they are made with quality ingredients and are not mostly salt or sugar. There is one mixture of herbs that I do purchase blended, and that I do use when I find myself unable to make up my mind or am really in a rush: herbs de Provence. But I’m not willing to say that is my favorite–it’s a regular potpourri of herbs that is useful for meats, vegetables, soups, and stews. My favorite herbs de Provence I order, as I do almost all of my herbs and spices, from Penzeys Spices. It reflects an admixture of French and Italian herbs that must hark back to Roman influences: rosemary, fennel, thyme, savory, basil, tarragon, dill weed, Turkish oregano, lavender, chervil, and marjoram. What’s not to love in that mixture!
I’m sure that good seasoning mixes do fill a niche for many home cooks who don’t love the seasoning process as much as I do, and have a definite place in their kitchens. I just love the sniffing and tasting part of food preparation. Penzeys Spices has a great selection to browse if you are finding your way and learning about herbs and spices outside the basics. You will find lots of salt-free seasoning mixes to try. That’s one of the good things about cooking for one, it’s definitely a son goût!
a-single-serving.com 