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Herb Dictionary
Learn more about herbs and how to use them to their maximum potential.
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Herbs are versatile and easy to use. They offer simple fresh
seasoning to most any type of food, even some desserts. Once
you've cooked with fresh herbs, you'll probably even want to
grow them. Gardeners divide herbs into two categories, culinary
and ornamental, although some herbs often serve both functions.
Culinary or edible herbs like thyme, basil, and oregano add
interest to many entrées, side dishes, and salads. Ornamental
herbs add color, height, and fragrance to a garden or window
box. There are a few ornamental herbs like lavender, pineapple
sage, and scented geranium that you can use for cooking.
Many herbs are perennials, meaning they die back during the
winter and return in spring. Rosemary, lavender, oregano, and
thyme are a few; give them a permanent spot in your garden and
you can have continual clippings.
If you grow your own herbs for cooking, use them before they
flower. Harvest herbs early in the morning just after the dew
has dried. Wash herbs and pat dry.
If you buy fresh herbs at the grocery store, here's the best way
to preserve them up to a week: wrap stems in a soaking wet paper
towel, taking care to keep herb foliage dry. Place wrapped herbs
in a zip-top plastic bag; seal it with air inside and store in
refrigerator. Another method is to place stem ends in a glass
with two inches of water; cover herb foliage loosely with a
plastic bag, and store in refrigerator.
If a recipe doesn't specify, it's best to add fresh herbs near
the end of cooking to release their full flavor. Bay leaves are
the exception, they typically simmer at length in soups.
If you want to substitute fresh herbs for dried herbs, which are
more concentrated in flavor, use three times as many fresh herbs
as you would dried. Rosemary is the exception; use it in equal
amounts.
Experimenting with herbs is fun. When blending herbs, choose a
leading flavor and combine it with a more subtle, background
herb. Don't emphasize more than one strong herb in a dish. Just
taste an herb to identify whether it has a pungent, spicy,
fruity, or floral taste; then pair it with a compatible food.
--The strong herbs are rosemary, cilantro, thyme, oregano, and
sage; go sparingly, as they contribute quite a bit of flavor to
a dish.
--Medium-flavored herbs are basil, dill, mint, and
fennel; use them more generously.
--Use delicate herbs like parsley and chives in abundance.
Basil: One of the easiest herbs to grow, basil has a heady
fragrance and a faint licorice flavor. Use it in salads, pesto,
pasta dishes, pizza, meat and poultry dishes. Purple ruffles
basil has ruffled purple-black leaves and a milder fragrance and
flavor. Cinnamon basil, Thai basil, and lemon basil are very
flavorful, fragrant basils for cooking.
(Learn all you need to know to grow your own basil.)
Bay leaves: Use fresh or dried bay leaves in soups, stews,
vegetables, and bouquet garnish. Discard bay leaves before
serving food.
(Learn all you need to know to grow your own bay leaves.)
Borage: The nodding purple flowers of borage are popular edible
garnishes in green salads, on fancy cakes, or floating in a
glass of wine or tea. You can use the young leaves, too. They
wilt quickly, so chop and add to salads or cucumber tea
sandwiches just before serving.
Chervil: A fragile herb, chervil is commonly known as French
parsley. It has a subtle anise flavor and is best fresh or
cooked only briefly. Add chervil to egg dishes, soups, and
salads or use it as a substitute for parsley.
Chives: Chives are attractive, rugged herbs that are easy to
grow. Snip the leaves and they'll provide a mild onion or garlic
flavor to soups, salads, and vegetable dishes. In spring, chives
boast globelike lavender-colored blooms that make ideal edible
garnishes for salads.
(Learn all you need to know to grow your own chives.)
Cilantro: Also known as Chinese parsley, cilantro is grown for
its spicy-flavored foliage and for its seeds called coriander.
Cilantro is the leaf; coriander is the seed or powder; the two
are not interchangeable in recipes. Slightly bruise a cilantro
leaf and it will give off an unmistakable pungent peppery
fragrance. Use the leaves in Southwestern, Mexican, and Asian
dishes. Cumin and mint are seasonings often paired with
cilantro. Coriander seeds are used in Indian dishes, as well as
pickles and relishes.
(Learn all you need to know to grow your own cilantro.)
Dill: Finely chop feathery fresh dill foliage for shrimp dishes,
eggs, soups, sandwiches, potato salad, and sauces. Dill makes a
good salt substitute. You can harvest and dry dill seeds and use
them in pickles, breads, and salad dressings.
(Learn all you need to know to grow your own dill.)
Geranium, scented: The foliage and flowers of scented geranium
are edible. Use scented leaves for flavoring pound cakes,
cookies, herb butters, jellies, and iced tea. Some scented
varieties to choose from are apple, lemon, orange, peppermint,
rose, and strawberry.
Lavender: This edible, ornamental herb has a purple flower that
spikes in early summer. Harvest the flowers just before they're
fully opened and use them in ice cream or other desserts,
marinades and sauces. Spanish lavender is a gray-leafed plant
with needlelike leaves that look like rosemary.
Lemon balm: This hardy, bushy member of the mint family has a
mild lemony flavor. Chop the aromatic leaves and use in tea
bread, scones, salads, or use leaves whole in tea or other cold
beverages.
Lemon Verbena: The strongest scented lemon herb, lemon verbena
has a healthy lemony essence. Use it as you would lemon balm
leaves. Pulse a handful of leaves with a cup of sugar in a food
processor to make lemon sugar. Store it in a jar. Use the sugar
in sweets and teas.
Mint: Add this common herb to lamb, poultry, salads, sauces,
teas, and punches. Try cooking with flavorful types of mint like
peppermint, orange mint, apple mint, or chocolate mint.
Nasturtiums: These bright red and orange edible flowers have a
peppery taste. They're particularly striking in salads. Use them
also in sandwich spreads or as a versatile garnish.
Oregano: These small green leaves produce strong flavor. Greek
oregano is the most popular oregano for cooking because of its
strong flavor and aromatic leaves. Add oregano to Italian
dishes, meat, fish, eggs, fresh and cooked tomatoes, vegetables,
beans, and marinades.
(Learn all you need to know to grow your own oregano.)
Rosemary: Unlike other herbs, rosemary has a stronger flavor
when fresh than when dried. It's a hardy herb with a piney scent
and flavor. To harvest rosemary, strip leaves from the stem. Use
the strong-flavored leaves sparingly. Rosemary adds a wonderful
accent to soups, meats, stews, breads, and vegetables.
(Learn all you need to know to grow your own rosemary.)
Sage: This fuzzy gray-green hardy herb is best known for use in
holiday dressing. Sage is often paired with sausage, too. And
it's soft texture lends well to tucking under the skin of
poultry before roasting.
(Learn all you need to know to grow your own sage.)
Tarragon: This tender herb plays a classic role in Bearnaise
sauce. It also adds flavor to soups, poultry, seafood,
vegetables, and egg dishes. It's used often to make herb butter
or vinegar. Its leaves have a bittersweet, peppery scent with a
hint of anise.
Thyme: Strip the tiny leaves from woody stems just before using.
Use fresh thyme in marinades for basting seafood, chicken, or
pork. Add thyme to mayonnaise for sandwiches or to beans, meat
stews, vegetables, or rice.
(Learn all you need to know to grow your own thyme.)
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