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Archive for the herbs tag

How to grow, harvest, and cook with basil

May 16, 2023 • Leave a Comment

Basil is the herb that has probably encouraged more people to become herb gardeners than any other. It is also likely that the most popular use for it is in Italian pesto sauce. But it is widely used in many other ways. For example, bunches of fresh basil can be used as fly repellents at entryways.

In folklore, bunches mixed with dill, artemisia, and rosemary were hung in the doorway nearest to the southwest corner of the house to repel evil spirits. If a young man wore a sprig of basil while courting, it meant that he was serious. Medicinally, it is used in teas, baths, and potions to mildly sedate, to aid poor digestion, to reduce fevers, to treat acne and insect stings, and to relax tired muscles. In the language of flowers, it can symbolize warfare and hatred, or love and best wishes depending on which reference you use (be sure the person to whom you are sending the symbolic bouquet is using the same flower dictionary that you are!). It is frequently planted among tomatoes with garlic and borage to repel the green hornworm.

**Basil is easy to grow in pots, providing you take care of the basic necessities of sun, fertilizer and water.**

Growing basil

Basil is an easy-to-grow annual needing sun, adequate water, reasonably rich well-drained soil, and warmth. It will show “frost” damage if the temperature falls below 40 degrees. Very cold water causes black spots to form on the leaves. It is commonly grown from seed, although seed-produced plants can contract a sudden wilt syndrome (fusarium) that turns the stems black and kills the plants in 1 or 2 days. Many seed companies offer improved varieties that do not have this problem.

Basil is easy to grow in pots, providing you take care of the basic necessities of sun, fertilizer and water. You can grow it on your windowsill if you have a sunny window. It is not a long-lived plant, so don’t bother to dig it up from the garden in the fall. Instead, start with new young plants to get you through most of the winter. The bugs that bother it include slugs, aphids and spider mites. If you get up one morning to find holes in the leaves, you most likely have a problem with slugs. Put sharp sand on the ground around the plants to discourage them. A strong stream of water usually washes the aphids and mites away.

Harvesting basil

When you are harvesting your basil to use fresh in the kitchen, cut the leaves and tender tips. Wash gently if necessary. When harvesting for drying, wait until the dew has dried from the plants and then cut only 1/2 to 2/3 of the plant at a time. Start harvesting in July when the plants are at least 12 inches tall. By harvesting early you avoid many of the insect problems, and the fresh leaves are still sweet and tender. Try to keep the plant from flowering, since once it flowers, the primary growth of the plant is done. However, the flowers are edible and make tasty additions to salads.

Basil turns black when it is frozen unless it is already processed. Make it into pesto and freeze it in an ice cube tray for easy wintertime use. To store the leaves dry, cut the whole plant before the first frost, rinse it if necessary, and pat it dry. Next, put a rubber band around the stems without making too large a bunch or it will turn moldy before it can dry, and hang the bunch in a dark and airy place until it is crispy dry. Store the dried basil in a bottle away from heat and light.

Basil varieties

There are about 35 varieties of basil in cultivation, and many more “named” varieties that are really duplicates of other ones. Herb nurseries carry a lot of them, and it is nice to be able to see and smell the plants before you buy them so there won’t be any surprises later on. Basil leaves have volatile oils that taste mainly of a mixture of anise, cinnamon, clove, lemon citrus, rose, thyme, and camphor. Plants and their oils can vary widely according to growing conditions. The varieties most commonly grown are categorized based on which oils are predominant, as in licorice basil, cinnamon basil, lemon basil, and holy basil (camphor and citrus). There are also basic basils, where the flavors and fragrances are quite evenly distributed including sweet, ‘Genovese,’ ‘Napolitano,’ ‘Nufar’ (probably the most resistant to fusarium wilt), Italian, pesto, spicy globe, and most of the purple-leaved varieties. Varieties can have large leaves, small leaves, purple or purple and green leaves, or ruffled leaves. There are small plants, tall plants, ball-shaped plants, and woody-stemmed shrubby plants, all of which are basils.

Basil recipes

There are many pesto recipes around—at least one or two in every cookbook or basil article. The basic recipe calls for 2 cups of fresh, chopped basil, 2 cloves of garlic, 3/4 cup of olive oil, 3/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste, and pine nuts as a garnish. We mix these ingredients in the blender or food processor. Use pesto over pasta, added to soups and salad dressings, and mixed with bread crumbs to stuff mushroom caps. At the farm we add 1/3 cup of lemon juice and pour it over fresh tomatoes, pepper strips, zucchini strips, cucumbers, and cooked and chilled cheese ravioli for a wonderful summertime salad.

You can make basil vinegar by stuffing a pint canning jar 2/3 full of basil leaves, filling it with vinegar, and letting it steep for 2 or 3 weeks. This makes a great addition to salad dressings and barbeque sauces. Using the opal basil leaves will turn the vinegar a lovely pink color. Basil makes a nice addition to herbal tea mixes. The spicy basils add a lovely fragrance to potpourri blends.

Basil is a great addition to any garden and is readily available as baby plants during the growing season at your local garden center and farmers market. Buy a pot of basil and give it a try!

Jean and Roxanne Riggs operated Sunshine Farm and Garden in Oakland County, MI.

Elsewhere: Start summer off with a sampling of fresh herbs

Make herbal swags with herbs from your own garden

June 16, 2021 • Leave a Comment

Harvesting herbs seems to be something of a mystery to many gardeners. We have become so accustomed to buying them in the grocery store, either fresh or dried, that we are at a loss as to how to pick them out of our own garden to use in the kitchen.

There are a few basic rules to follow. To use them fresh, pick as needed. To dry them for winter use, the plants are large enough in summer for cutting and ready at varying times. The earlier in the summer that you can gather them, the sweeter the flavor. Plus, fewer bugs will have had a chance to dine on them. Cut only one half of the plant at a time, so it will have enough strength to continue growing. Cut only on warm, dry days in the afternoon when the dew is gone and the plants are very dry. Use a rubber band to secure small bunches of the herb and hang in a dark, dry place until crispy dry.

***Swag materials ready to go: herb bunches and a raffia braid.***

We cannot stress this next step too much: label the bunches. When thoroughly dry, package the whole leaves in jars and store in a dark cupboard away from heat. The flavor will stay wonderful for about one year—just in time for a new harvest next summer.

Kitchen herbal swag

There are decorative ways to dry and hang the bunches in your kitchen. Our favorite method is to make a vertical swag by tying the bunches on a raffia braid that will hang in the kitchen to dry, where they will be convenient for use in the winter.

We start with the braid and begin by tying the first fresh bunches of herbs at the bottom with a single, thick piece of raffia. The bottom bunch is usually a coarse-leafed variety like lovage. We add one bunch at a time, alternating foliage types and even adding some herbal flowers to add visual appeal. Make sure that the bunches are not too large; otherwise the leaves will get moldy before they dry, and ruin the whole thing. The bunches should contain 8 to 12 stems of herbs and be about 6 to 8 inches long. Add a bow of ribbon or raffia at the top. You can tuck garlic bulbs or hot peppers into the bow if you want to. Label the bunches as you go so you won’t forget which one is which after the leaves dry.

***Tying the first herb bunch to the raffia braid.***

Many of the herbs in our gardens lend themselves to a kitchen herbal swag. We have already mentioned lovage, a large plant with leaves that look and taste like celery. It dries well and holds its flavor. The young stalks are round and hollow; when picked fresh from the garden, they can be used as straws in tomato-flavored drinks. Yum! The plant reaches a height of five feet, so there is always plenty to pick throughout the summer.

French tarragon is another herb that dries and holds its flavor well for the winter. Nice in the swag, it is good in salad dressing or poultry. Sage, with its lovely silvery leaves, looks good in the swag, and the flavor holds all winter for use in poultry stuffing and herb mixtures.

Mints are valuable with their sharper flavors and fragrances, and their flowers are frequently pretty too. The leaves become crispy and break easily after drying, but they are still good to use. Basil is similar to mint, and basil flowers look attractive when they dry. The dark opal basil is especially pretty in the swag, and is tasty on salads all year.

Chives do not dry well, becoming tough and stringy, but the flowers dry and hold their lovely mauve, adding a touch of color. They are edible and can be used in salads or as a garnish on soup. If you want to preserve the chive leaves for winter use, freeze them in a foil wrap. Oregano flowers dry well too, and are pretty in the swag. The leaves and flowers can be used in spaghetti or lasagna dishes. Thyme has tiny leaves and is usually the last or top bunch that is added to the swag. Lemon thyme invites you to use it on seafood, where it is especially appealing. Bay leaves and rosemary are flavorful additions too and have wonderful leaf textures.

Fragrant herbal swag

Another type of swag that you can make for the bedroom, bathroom, or a room that needs freshening is one made of fragrant herbs. It is made the same way as the kitchen swag, substituting herbs that are aromatic. Instead of using a raffia braid as a backing, you could use a bunch of long artemisia—the silver varieties would be especially appropriate. Or, try a braid of sweet grass with its vanilla fragrance.

Bee balm (Monarda), with its soft and soothing mint fragrance and pretty flower heads, would be a good addition for both color and fragrance. Of course, lavender flower stalks offer a great fragrance that both calms the nerves and repels bugs at the same time. Hyssop, with both pink and purple flower spikes and rarely even white, has a musk smell that many people find enjoyable.

The scented-leaf geraniums have leaves that come in a dizzying array of fragrances. Some are rose scented, some smell of citrus or other fruit, some mimic mints, and some remind us of almonds or walnuts. All of the leaves dry and retain their fragrance and are welcome additions to the swag.

Fruit-scented sages like pineapple or honeydew are pleasant. Santolina flowers look like golden buttons and are sometimes used in moth-repelling mixes; they would add a rich color to the swag. Lemon verbena would be a delightful aroma to add as well.

After finishing your herbal swag, hang it immediately on your wall out of direct sunlight and enjoy the wonderful aroma as it dries naturally. If you have labeled your bunches, you will be picking off the swag during the winter and enjoying a great recipe with herbs.