Salad dressing from Janet Clark (Homespun restaurant in Leeds, Utah)
Herb tools and taste test: stevia, various salts and pepper (pepper mill from la cuisine/France), zester, various sizes of bottles of herbs, kitchen shears
Food samples:
Tomatoes with fresh basil (ingredients: pre-sliced, tomatoes, mozzarella, salt, sugar, pepper, olive oil, red wine vinegar, fresh basil)
Fresh salad greens from yard plus dressing
When growing an Herb Garden
Plant it in a place that is easy to get to and convenient
Containers need to be easy to reach and pinch the herbs
Many herbs will take over and need to be thinned i.e. sage, etc. They can end up woody and unattractive.
Do's and Don'ts:
Too many herbs may make you crazy. Less is more when it comes to herbs.
One idea: Create two rectangle pots just outside your kitchen door.
Grow only the culinary herbs you use on a frequent basis.
basil – three plants plus a new one
chives
parsley – curly and flat
thyme
rosemary
dill
mint – in a small confining container…. Make sure you like the mint you plant – less partial to spearmint (canal mint) love peppermint
sorrel – bright lemon taste
Herbs and spices are what elevate foods and cooking.
About a cookbook: "If you got one good recipe from a cookbook, it was worth the purchase of the book".
Where to get your Dried Herbs: Penzey’s (penzey.com)
So much cheaper thru this website.
Why buy at Penzey's? Cost savings and much fresher than store purchased herbs where you don’t know how long sitting in warehouse.
Going to Baltimore? Go to the harbor – McCormick and Shilling spices – smell the cinnamon aroma. Sorry, no tours.
How to store them: Glass jars, varying sizes, FREEZE your herbs. split an order with others. Best to store in air tight container. Never plastic; glass is best. Can order glass jars from Penzy’s
Discuss some favorite spices and how use them
Fresh ground nutmeg – different smell and taste (use nutmeg grater)
Grind spices in coffee grinder
current catalog
20 year old herbs of my mother – No comparison in aroma.
Identify 20-25 fresh and dried herbs (mystery)
Door prize to individual who identifies correctly the most herbs
Marion Searle
June 2010