Sunday 10 June 2012

Herbs

Rosemary is meant to help you remember...

One of my good intentions for 2012 was to grow more of my own herbs...

The basil took one look at our English 'summer', promptly curled up its toes & gave up the ghost...

The coriander followed suit.

The parsley is struggling but just about holding on...

The rosemary, well the rosemary seems to be loving it...

I've had to keep it under control so we've been making a whole host of rosemary related recipes:

Rosemary bread, Rosemary sugar, Rosemary cake, Rosemary salad dressings, Rosemary  & garlic roasted potatoes, Rosemary salt, Rosemary vinegar & Rosemary oil.

I didn't remember to add the labels...

To make Rosemary vinegar or oil: wash and roughly chop rosemary, fill a sterilised jar, top up with vinegar (or oil) & leave for approx 2 weeks to steep. You can speed up the process by gently heating the mix for about 20 mins (If you can cope with the smell of vinegar!) Strain the mix, put in a sterilised jar & add a new sprig of rosemary.

I use the oil for cooking, making balm, salad dressings, mayonnaise, on bread and in bread.

The vinegar is good for salad dressings, salsas, mint sauce, sore throats and adding to a final hair rinse. (& strangely enough it also works well in meringue- there will be a meringue post at some point over the summer)

For some delicious, herby recipe ideas, pop over to Lavender & Lovage for Herbs on Saturday.


P.S. According to legend, Aphrodite emerged from the sea cloaked in rosemary (Personally, I'd have chosen something with bigger leaves!)


19 comments:

Marigold Jam said...

Had to laugh at your final comment - I'd have wanted something with a bit more drape too! Glad it isn't only my basil which has decided not to bother Will certainly make use of some of your rosemary ideas though as nothing seems to kill that off.

Marigold Jam said...

SNAP indeed! Like you I did have an old Kenwood chef till quite recently when it gave up the ghost but I think my mother bought hers second hand and certainly didn't have it back in the 50s.

Angela said...

My parsley also appears to have died. Mint is flourishing and I have a little thyme. But the rosemary...that is spectacular. If we have any truly hot BBQ weather I shall strip some strong rosemary stalks to use for kebabs [soak them in water 20 mins first]

And if the rain continues, I suppose I could kebab under the grill...

blessings xx

Gillian Roe said...

I find lots of herbs in my garden look like they have died every winter but come back. I've never managed to grow basil or coriander outside, which is a shame as I use them a lot. I don't think they like the English climate! But a pot of basil from the supermarket will keep going for three or four months on the kitchen windowsill, so for £1 I reckon that's pretty good value.

Thrifty Household said...

Your windowsill is obviously much better than mine! (My coriander & basil didn't even get past the seedlings on windowsill stage...)

I really like the idea of rosemary BBQ skewers!

fiona maclean said...

My basil seeds didn't germinate for ages. Eventually the pot I started at the end of march did, about 2 weeks ago...now I have 6 leaves. And I started off a new pot at that point...and that looks very promising. I'm inclined to think our weather just hasn't been good enough!

Streetcomber said...

I will try this - sounds great.

Anonymous said...

It's probably worth trying again with the basil - it somehow seems a very summery flavour!

Kimberley said...

I need to buy a ton of rosemary then......my memory is awful!. Your last comment made me laugh too!

tea with hazel said...

lovely informative and funny post..i'm in the fortunate position to be able to grow most herbs here..although i find coriander hard to grow in summer..it tends to runs to seed before it develops many leaves..

Stitchybritt said...

Now that we've moved into our new house I can't wait to plant some herbs - and Rosemary is probably one that will do ok given that it is winter in Australia. Our mint flourishes but I haven't had luck with much else- but I am determined to try again in the spring.

Anonymous said...

Hello there, thanks for visiting my blog. It is nice to meet you. I followed you back and was very happy to see your post on the herbs, especially the one on Rosemary. It has special memories for me. Ruth

The Coffee Lady said...

Two things we have in common - the exact same kitchen worktop, and dead basil.

Thrifty Household said...

& coffee makes three...mustn't forget the coffee!

emma said...

My herbs aren't happy herbs this year either. Even my rosemary is looking a bit miserable. The sun has got to turn up at some point surely?

Karen S Booth said...

Snap! Some of my herbs are VERY tardy this year, whilst others are shooting up in leaps and bounds, of which one is ROSEMARY! MY lovage and oregano are also doing very well, and on the fruit front, I am in for a BUMPER crop of quince and apples this year! This is a FABULOUS entry for Herbs on Saturday thanks and I LOVE your very arty photos too! THANKS so much for adding this and keep them coming if you have any more up your sleeve! Karen

Thrifty Household said...

Thankfully, I have big sleeves Karen!

Mrs. Micawber said...

We have an ancient (well, about 12 years old) rosemary plant I started from seed. It lives in a pot, spends the winters inside with us, and is tenderly cherished. We love to put the chopped leaves on foccaccia and pizza, and simmer whole leafy twigs with garlic in oil for dipping or rubbing on chicken. I like the hair rinse idea - usually I just use apple cider vinegar.

I've given up on growing coriander. It goes to seed so quickly, and I never get enough of it. Basil usually does well for us - I'm lucky to have a small sunny bed to plant it in. It seems to prefer being in the ground.

Annie Cholewa said...

We have basil that's not at it's best, and rampant marjoram ... no idea how that happened but I think I need some recipes for it!

Don't you just adore the scent of rosemary?

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