Do you buy fresh herbs to enhance your dishes but too often find them having gone bad in your refrigerator? Boost their shelf life with this preservation secret.

Know your basil from your borage? Fennel from fenugreek? Mint from marjoram? It's the zestiest quiz ever from Slashfood.

Herbs. Photo: Shawn Allen, Flickr

• A whole slew of herb-themed recipes to utilize any tasty greenery kicking around.
  
• Minneapolis' Nokomis neighborhood now has two new shops to feed local wine addictions -- Ken & Norm's and the Cork Dork.
• The Country Lane farm stand boasts delicious, freshly picked berries.
• Wondering exactly how to harvest your home crops? The Star Tribune offers some tips.
• On birds, boys, brews and backyard barbecues.
  
• Advice on how to cook up the freshwater fish brought home after a long day on the water.
• Taylors Falls' The Drive In boasts old-school nostalgia in both atmosphere and menu, while Kramarczuk's offers a cheap brat combo.
• Wine pick of the week: France's crisp, cheap Picpoul de Pinet.
• News Bites: New Zealand's olive oil, Calphalon pans, Iowa's Premier Wine & Food Expo and a benefit for St. Jude's.
  
• Recipes: Grilled Tuna with Parsley-Parmesan Vinaigrette and a slew of sweet corn dishes.
  

It's easy to spice up a dish straight from a jar, but there's one more thing you should do before herbs hit your food.

Have a recipe that calls for a tiny bit of herbs, but can only find huge bunches? Fear not: There are lots of herb recipes out there to tackle this problem in one fell swoop.

It looks like basil and smells like lemon, but this emerald green herb is actually a member of the buckwheat family. Native to Southeast Asia, Vietnamese coriander is used much like cilantro, its close cousin, flavor-wise. In Vietnam, it's used fresh in salads and summer rolls or cooked in soups and stews. In Singapore, it's is known as laksa leaf and is one of the main flavorings in a pungent curry noodle soup called laksa. You can find Vietnamese coriander in many Asian markets in the United States. Use it in stir fries, or try tearings bits of it into hot chicken soup with lime and chili for a pho-like flavor.

Does food symbolism bear any truth? If, so then Italian sweet basil can trigger romance. In Italian culture, basil symbolizes love. When a woman puts out a pot of basil, it means she is ready to receive her suitor. Interestingly, in Ancient Greece, it represented anger. Since basil is one of my favorite herbs, I prefer to believe it's a sign of love. The sweet pungent taste of Genovese basil with hints of anise brings me back to a past trip to Cinque Terre.

While basil is a summer herb, I recently tried a delicious basil tea that reminded me of how much I love it and yearn for summer produce. While it originated in India, Africa, and Asia, it's now grown worldwide. Genovese Basil might be one of the best varieties out of the 150, because it yields about 8 cuttings and makes the best pesto.

While in Cinque Terre, I visited a small pesto factory outside the village of Riomaggiore. I'll never forget the gorgeous cliffs covered in bright green basil and the beautiful enchanting aroma of basil emanating from a red bucket in the pesto factory. If indeed basil activates romance, then this Valentine's Day, find a way to incorporate it into your meal.

It was exactly two weeks ago that I urged you herb-growing Slashfoodies to bring the greens in for the winter. What I didn't share was how much I cheated when I did it myself. On some fronts I was lucky, but on others, I've learned just how easy it is to bring herbs inside.

I brought in from my balcony: rosemary, chives, parsley, and mint -- each fairly sparse after fall harvesting. Since each pot had some bugs buried in the soil, I mangled the root system of each plant, cutting at least half the roots off, before shaking and rinsing the plant, and then re-potting in the same pots with new soil. I didn't give them an in-between hiding place for temperature changes and any missed bugs since I don't actually have one, so I just brought each pot in and hoped for the best.

About 6-7 days later, a new forest of mint stems sprung overnight and in two weeks, have completely exploded, like you see to the right. The mint, which used to be about 2-3 inches tall is now almost a foot. The parsley and chives have doubled, and the rosemary is as-is, since I gave it a little too much water when re-planting. It's so easy. Do it!

And one last thing before I shut up about herb transporting: These herbs did this in my fairly dark apartment with only minimal sun and warmth. Imagine what they could do in better conditions!

I have a confession to make: Every year I go overboard with my herbs, and every year, I watch a lot of them go to waste. Not this year. First, I only bought herbs that were easier to find uses for (basil, mint, chives, rosemary, parsley), and then I found recipes that used a lot of them (basil pesto, mint julep iced tea). And now, I'm refusing to let them shrivel and die under inevitable frost. So, read on for some tips and links to bring your herbs indoors, because really, there's no reason to lose them when you can have the fresh smells and flavors at home all year round.

• The best time to bring them in is before the first frost, and if possible, ease them into the transition.
• Certain herbs transplant better, like most of what I listed above: mint, parsley, thyme, rosemary, and chives.
• If you had herbs outside, but still in pots, you cannot just bring them in. They must be prepped for BUGS.
• There are sure to be bugs in your soil or possibly on your leaves. I shake out the plant as much as possible to get rid of the old soil and critters, give it a good insecticidal soap rinse, and inspect before re-potting with fresh soil.
  
• It's still good to sequester the plants for a few weeks in case any house-plant-harming bugs were missed.
• Make sure there's lots of light, and if there isn't, you might want to get a plant lamp.
• Extra hints.

You worked so hard to keep that luscious herb garden at its finest this summer; don't stop now! Don't know what to do with all your leftover herbs and afraid the first frost is going to destroy them, try freezing them!

Dagoba's Rosemary Mint bar was one of Marisa's standout picks for our Fancy Food Show Favorites, and I've since become slavishly devoted to their Seeds bar. It's 68% cacao, studded throughout with pumpkin, hemp and sunflower seeds, and now I've got even greater impetus to dig it, because the company is giving away free seeds via their website Seed the Day.

"Whether it's a pot on the windowsill, a patch in the backyard or a big community effort, everyone can garden. We'll get you ready for spring and help keep your garden blooming by sending you the very herbs and flowers found in our chocolate bars. Everyone who signs up will get at least one packet of lavender, mint, rosemary, pumpkin or sunflower seeds."

So far as I can tell, there's not a single hitch or string -- just free seeds and an extra excuse to think of chocolate. The site also notes that should your planting group be planning a late night planting romp, they just might send along some delicious provisions. And - if you live in Boston, Chicago or San Francisco, you can come on out and nab a handful for yourself. Dates are listed here.


Seed the Day

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.

I know we're hearing a lot about this kind of thing lately. I, for one, think that isn't a bad thing. This post from Remedicated about 20 common cooking herbs with medicinal properties collects a lot of disparate information and puts it in one place.

Some of the herbs are well known to have medicinal uses, like turmeric and cloves, but did you know that onions (and other vegetables related to onions) have been used for centuries as medicines? Apparently they have anti-inflammatory properties. Also, rosemary, cinnamon, and parsley (great for detoxifying carcinogens from cigarette smoke) are just some of the surprising (to me) herbs on the list.

There is no way this list can be complete, though. If you study a natural product long enough, you're sure to find lots of healthy qualities. Does anyone have any herbs they'd like to add? If you disagree with this list, I'd love to read about that, too.

I don't know about you, but I'm always hesitant to buy fresh herbs. I never know if I'm going to use them before they go bad. I love to cook, I just don't do it very often. If I cook at home it's usually just for myself, so I just make a sandwich or eat cereal.

If you're like me, and love fresh herbs but don't cook regularly enough to justify buying them, then the Herb-saver might be for you. The Food Section recently brought this device from Prepara to our attention. If it works, it just may be the thing I need to get me buying fresh herbs again.

Has anyone used the Herb-Saver? I'd really like to know if it's any good. I might actually get one. By the way, turn down the volume before linking to the Prepara site: a video starts automatically, and while it's helpful, it's also loud.

I've used herbs and spices my entire life without ever stopping to think about what the difference is between them. I was excited to find a blog post on the subject at the Supreme Spice Blog. It's always fun to find the answer to a question you didn't know you had.

"The leaf of a plant which is used in cooking is referred to as a herb and any other part of the plant that is used to flavor food is termed as a spice."

The blog gives some examples of spices and what plant part they are from: "Cloves (bud), ginger & turmeric (roots), fennel, cumin, coriander (seeds), cinnamon (bark), peppercorns (berries)."

Be sure to check out the Supreme Spice Blog for more about spices. Supreme Spice also sells a line of spice extracts in some unique flavors. I just made an Indian cupcake using their tea masala extract. I had never even heard of tea masala extract until I saw their product.