Fresh herbs - how to use

Joto_2

Hi When you freeze the herbs do you put them in a bag/tupperbox or do you freeze individual portion sizes. I have qiute a lot in the garden at the moment. How long are they ok in the garden for? Are some frost free? Sorry for all the questions, this is the first time I have grown them in the garden inbetween flowers. Doing it this way has given me much bigger plants than the usual pot grown.

Debt_Free_Chick

Your thyme is perennial, so it should keep going during the winter. The growing will slow down, but if you're careful, you'll have fresh thyme all winter.

The chives, mint & parsley are also perrenial, but they tend to die down in the winter and sprout new growth in the spring/summer. You'll need to dry or freeze what you have.

The coriander is an annual - it will die down and not return - so freeze or dry it

HTH

Liney_2

I have just come back from a wedding in Norfolk and with the coffee they served tiny shortbread heart shaped biscuits that were flavoured with lavender - that is to say they had tiny bits of dried lavender flowers in them. It was so yummy.

I would never have thought of this as a use for lavender but am going to try making some myself using my abundance of lavender from the garden.
I tried lavender jelly once too which was gorgeous.

Go on try some, you might like it!

Liney_2

This hair rinse is extremely quick to make. Keep a bottle in your bathroom and use it as a final rinse after shampooing your hair. Rosemary hair rinse will bring out the shine in dark hair. To make a rinse for fair hair, simply replace the rosemary with chamomile flowers.

Infuse a few stalks of rosemary in hot water for several minutes. Strain the liquid, allow to cool and bottle.

mandy_moo_1

When making casseroles,which herbs do you think go best with which meats?
ie) i want to make casseroles using beef,lamb,chicken (not all in the same pot!!) but i wasn't sure which herbs are best suited. and how much do i need to use?
Thanx

Pink.

Garlic and rosemary are delicious with lamb. I like tarragon with chicken and a bay leaf always livens up any beef dish. How much to use really depends on personal taste. You always need to use less if you are using dried herbs.

Pink

MATH

For beef casserole I put a spoon of mustard powder in with the flour when tossing the meat before browning and whack a bay leaf in the dish too.

For chicken I also use tarragon and for lamb I use rosemary or freshmint and redcurrent jelly. HTH

mandy_moo_1

Thanx...i'll give some of these a go next time

arkonite_babe

A bay leaf in anything works wonders, I also like basil in beef/tomato dishes or anything which has tomato in. Rosemary in lamb and oregano in most things. For chicken I tend to use season all instead of herbs.

HTH

halojones

You get the bottles of dried mixed herbs, which are basic and cheap and seem to go with anything. You can get these from all the supermarkets and they are about 50p. They are great added to gravies, pasta sauces and anything.

Mint of course for Lamb and redcurrant jelly is the best especially if you can get some homemade.