"herb" news and stories

I often buy more spices and herbs than I know what to do with. So, it's not surprising that after several months they begin to lose their best flavors. Fortunately, there are techniques to preserve their unique taste.

Fennel is reliable. It's reliable-looking, for one: it sits on a sturdy, bulbous base and boasts welcoming green fronds and, if in the wild, tiny yellow flowers. It also possesses a reliable flavor: it'll welcome you back each time you use it, comfortable, secure, and unwavering in its flavor. And finally, you can rely on fennel for its multipurpose u, as a feature or an accent to your other foods.

Its History

Fennel is a perennial herb that's grown mainly in the Mediterranean and India. First referred to as "marathon" by the ancient Greeks and later used against witchcraft in medieval times, fennel is high in Vitamin C, potassium, and dietary fiber. Fennel's flavor, a distinct liquorice, comes from the anethole compound, which is also found in anise and star anise, which is why one is often mistaken for the other. The one you'll find most often in your local supermarket is known as florence fennel.

Its Uses

Fennel is primarily used either for its "bulb," a tightly-grouped bunch of leaves (large shards are pulled off to be used in soups or salads), its fronds (sprinkled onto salads and entrees as an accent) and as an herb to flavor dishes in its seed form. It is also one of the primary ingredients in absinthe. Even the pollen from fennel's delicate yellow flowers are used in cooking, though they are quite expensive. It is often used as a breath freshener, and is said to have medicinal qualities, used for everything from preventing jaundice to aiding digestion (it can be used as a diuretic) to staunching coughs.

Using fresh herbs in your recipes is a sure way to brighten up your favorite chicken dish or add some dimension to a rice pilaf. The flavors from fresh herbs are more vivid and complex than those from dried herbs. Once way to obtain said herbs is by choosing bunches of fresh at your local market, but growing them at home is going to be more convenient and less expensive than buying them every time you need a few tablespoonfuls. These garden-in-a bag kits are perfect for anyone interested in trying to grow some fresh herbs who doesn't have the space - or gardening abilities - to handle something bigger. The indoor-friendly options include organic chives, mint, basil and lavender, along with a variety of flowers. To get your herbs to grow, all you need to do is stir the included seeds and water into the bag, full of already primed soil, and wait. Germination takes a few days and, depending on what you're growing, you'll have fresh herbs within a couple of weeks.

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The nearest grocery store to my house is very convenient -- at a couple of blocks away, it wouldn't be much hassle to bike down and pick up a few things. But it's a very ordinary store as well, and doesn't always have what I might be hunting. And when it doesn't? Well, the half-hour drive downtown is usually worth it for the abundant selection of fresh fruits and veggies, but sometimes I simply don't feel up to it. So, facing up to the coming winter, I've cleared off a sunny kitchen windowsill as an ideal place to attempt to grow my own selection of herbs. And while I don't claim to have a green thumb, a couple of weeks into the experiment my little plants -- basil, oregano, sage, rosemary, and lavender (I've never cooked with this last, but it smells lovely in the kitchen) -- already seem to be growing a bit. Want to test your own green thumb?

Lemon verbena is growing in popularity, seemingly by the minute. A few years ago, it was almost unheard of to the home cook, then it rapidly spread from the pages of upscale menus to Gourmet to Cooking Light and to Better Homes and Gardens. It is a perennial herb, native to Chile and Peru, that has an unusually strong lemon scent and flavor to it. The lemon scent comes from an essential oil known as citral, which is also found in lemon, lemongrass and other plants.

Verbena is not a popular herb in traditional European cookery, though it was commonly planted for ornamental reasons in European gardens after it was introduced in the 18th century. The plant grows best in temperate climates, with plenty of water and sunshine. It will produce beautiful, small flowers in the late summer and fall. Its aroma is strong and can perfume a garden easily.