Growing & Using Herbs!

 By Andrea Yoder

Fresh herbs bring a fragrant vitality to your kitchen, may be used medicinally, and add beauty to your landscape or patio.  Back in our early days of CSA, we used to include more herbs in the CSA shares.  We wanted to give members fresh herbs to cook with, however we heard frequently from members that they were not using all of the herbs in a bunch before they went bad.  We brought this issue up at a meeting with our members and one member suggested we send the herbs as plants that they can plant themselves.  What a great idea and an even better way to accomplish the overall goal of making fresh herbs available for CSA members to incorporate in their meals!  When you need a fresh herb, you simply cut it from your plant—it doesn’t get any fresher than that!  

Every year in mid-late May we deliver these special culinary herb packs that we start in our greenhouse.  You can plant these herbs in a garden space or in pots to keep on your patio, porch or kitchen windowsill if you’re limited on space.  Choose good, loose garden soil mixed with lots of compost (up to 1” mixed into the soil if you’re planting into a garden space).  The plants will do best in well-drained soil with full sun.  If you don’t have a space with full sun exposure, partial sun will be ok too.  If you have rabbits or other little herb-loving critters in your yard, you might need to fence your herbs to protect them.  While we usually don’t see frost after the 15th of May, it is still possible that we could see some chilly nights over the next few weeks.  While most of the contents of these herb packs can tolerate a little frost, there are a few herbs including basil and chervil that will be damaged by the frost.  If you see a cold night coming, we recommend you either bring your plants inside (if in pots) or cover them with a sheet or other protective covering to protect them from frost or low temperatures.

If you need help identifying the herbs in your pack, please refer to this diagram as well as the pictures that follow. 

Oregano

There are four perennial herbs in your pack:  Oregano, Sage, Thyme and Rosemary.  Oregano, sage and thyme are more cold hardy and have a pretty good chance of surviving our cold winters.  So, consider where you’d like to establish these herbs in your garden as they will likely come back year after year.  Sage and oregano will get quite large, so it is best to give them about 2 square feet of space in the area you plant them in.  Each year we cut off all the old wood from our sage plant to make room for the new growth.  Thyme is a bit smaller and only needs about 1 square foot of space.  While rosemary is a perennial herb, it is not quite as cold hardy.  To ensure it survives into the next year, it is best to bring it indoors in the fall.  If you have planted it in the ground, you can dig it up and put it in a pot to keep inside over the winter.  

Italian Basil

The remaining plants in your pack are annuals and include Italian Basil, Chervil, Italian Parsley and Curly Parsley.  Annuals will only produce for this season and will not survive the winter outdoors.  Italian basil and chervil need to be cut back regularly to delay flower and seed formation so they continue to produce usable leaves.  If you see even the earliest sign of flowering in either of these plants, cut them back to keep them vegetative.  Parsley will continue to produce throughout the season, so don’t be afraid to cut these plants back too.  If you can’t use your herbs as fast as they are growing, cut the extra herbs anyway and preserve them.  There is more information about that to follow.  When harvesting your herbs, use a sharp knife or scissors so you can make a clean cut.

Chervil

Fresh herbs should be cut as close to using them as possible and with a sharp knife, so you don’t bruise the leaves.  The flavor and aroma from herbs come from the oils in the herb and will lessen over time once they are cut.  This is also why you usually add fresh herbs to a dish at the end of cooking or shortly before serving.  In contrast, dried herbs need more time to develop the flavors that have been preserved in the process of drying.  Dried herbs are added earlier in the cooking process to give them time to develop and come together with the other ingredients in the dish. Many times, recipes will direct you to strip the leaves from the stems of fresh herbs.  If the stem is tough or more like a stick, you will want to do this.  However, some herb stems are tender, flavorful, juicy and totally usable!  I often chop both the leaf and the stem when I’m using fresh thyme, parsley, chervil and sometimes young basil stems.  Sage, rosemary and oregano stems are sometimes a bit more coarse and not usable.

Sage

The herbs in our garden herb pack are intended to be used primarily as culinary herbs, adding flavor and vitality to the foods you are enjoying at your meals.  I do want to mention though, that herbs also have nutrients and compounds in them that impart health benefits and may be used medicinally.  For instance, the Latin name for common sage means “healing plant.”  Over the course of history sage has been used medicinally in many applications including as a central nervous system tonic and a circulatory stimulant.   There is an ancient proverb that says, “How can a man die who has sage in his garden?”  Several years ago, Jean Schneider, a longtime friend of our farm and an herbalist, shared some ideas for medicinal uses of some of the herbs in our herb packs.  You can read her full article on our blog where she shared how to make sage honey.  This is a great way to preserve sage at the end of the season and a nice thing to have in your pantry to use throughout the winter to enhance your health.  

German Winter Thyme

Thyme is another example of an herb that is used for both its culinary applications, but also imparts health benefits to our bodies.  The same essential oils contained in the plant that give it its signature aroma and flavor are also responsible for its medicinal benefits including being antiseptic and antispasmodic.  It can help to soothe congestion and calm tense muscles and nerves.  In Jean’s article on our blog, you’ll also find information about how you can make thyme tea.

Rosemary has an interesting history as it relates to health benefits.  Back in ancient Greece, philosophers and students wore rosemary garlands on their heads to stimulate the brain and improve their memory.  Rosemary contains a compound called borneol that is thought to increase blood flow and generally stimulate the circulatory system thereby increasing blood flow to the heart and brain.  If this is true, it makes sense that one may have better brain function with enhanced blood flow and oxygenation to the brain!  

Rosemary

These are just a few examples of the health benefits we can take advantage of by including culinary herbs in our diets, but also using them outside the scope of cooking and eating as medicinal plants that can enhance our health.  With that in mind, lets talk more about how we can incorporate culinary herbs into our meals on a regular basis!

Herbs are a great way to add flavor to your food and can really elevate a dish or recipe to the next level by enhancing other flavors it may accompany.  Most of the time we think of herbs as something we add in small portions to give just a little extra flavor or add background flavor.  An example of this is when you add herbs to the pot when making stock, broth or braised dishes.  In these preparations, herbs are often put in as whole stems or bundles.  They are used to impart flavor and then removed before using or serving.  Other times herbs are used as a garnish, added just before serving with the purpose of complementing the dish.  Examples of this include adding a little fresh parsley to a bowl of chicken soup or a plate of pasta or perhaps you add a little fresh basil to a pizza after it comes out of the oven.  Beyond these small, complementary applications, I would also encourage you to think of herbs as vegetables.   For example, add coarsely chopped herbs to vegetable and grain salads in larger quantities where they are one of the main ingredients.  Vietnamese cuisine is a great example of food where herbs are used in greater quantities more like a vegetable.  Another good example of this type of application is Tabbouleh, a Lebanese salad, which is a combination of bulgur, tomatoes and lots of fresh parsley and mint. 

Italian Parsley

There are some classic preparations from around the world that are characterized by their use of herbs.  When your plants are really producing and you have a lot of fresh herbs available, consider using them more as a main ingredient in some of these preparations.  Pesto is a great example of this and is traditionally made with fresh basil, although you can make pesto out of nearly anything green and leafy!  Gremolata is an Italian condiment made from fresh parsley, lemon and garlic.  It is traditionally served with osso bucco, an Italian dish of braised veal shank, but can also be served with lamb, beef, chicken or bean dishes.  Chermoula is a Morroccan herb condiment made with fresh herbs including parsley and cilantro.  It is often served with fish and seafood dishes.  Chimichurri is another parsley based condiment originating in Argentina.  It also includes garlic and parsley as the main ingredients, but also often includes fresh oregano, red pepper flakes and red wine vinegar.  Salsa Verde is another fresh herb sauce, different from the salsa verde made from tomatillos.  The herbal version of Salsa Verde is a simple herb sauce, similar in some ways to a coarse pesto.  It’s often made with parsley, but you could make it with any fresh herbs.  

Curly Parsley

If you do have more herbs than you can use fresh, cut them back and preserve them.  Some herbs, such as basil and parsley, can be pureed with a little oil and frozen in ice cube trays or muffin tins.  Other herbs such as parsley, sage, oregano, thyme and savory are good as dried herbs.  After you harvest them, give them a quick rinse and then dry them in a low-heat oven or in a food dehydrator.  The other option is to bundle the herbs in small bundles and hang them in a dry place with good air flow and let them air dry. If you do this, make sure the herbs are more on the dry side when you bundle them and don’t put too many stems in a bundle, or they may mold or take longer to dry.  Once your herbs are dried, strip them off the stem and put them in a glass jar with a lid.

Cooking flavorful food does not have to be complicated or time-consuming, and neither does raising your own herb garden!  Anyone, of any level of culinary or gardening skill, can learn to feed themselves healthy delicious food if they approach cooking and basic gardening with an open mind and a willingness to learn.  You do have to invest a little time and effort, but it doesn’t have to be terribly complicated and it’s definitely nothing to be afraid of!  In her book The Homemade Kitchen, Alana Chernila says “Fresh herbs will take whatever you create in the kitchen and make it better.”

We hope you enjoy growing your own herbs and find interesting and delicious ways to make use of them throughout the year.  They really are a simple way to brighten up your landscape as well as your meals and the benefits they offer go beyond the flavor.  

Checking in on your Herb Garden!

By Chef/Farmer Andrea

It’s been almost three months since we delivered herb packs, so I wanted to check in and see how your gardens are doing!  Whether you planted your herbs in pots or in a garden space, I hope you have had success with your plants this year and are flooded with herbs!  This week I want to offer some suggestions for how to use herbs in larger volume in your summer cooking, with hopes of making the most out of your herb gardening efforts.  I will also offer some suggestions for ways you can preserve your herbs so you can continue to enjoy them and reap their benefits throughout the winter.

Most of the time we use herbs in smaller quantities as a flavoring. Perhaps we top off a bowl of soup or a salad with some chopped parsley or add a tablespoon or two of oregano to our tomato sauce.  When your plants are really growing in the peak of their season, a tablespoon or sprig here and there just doesn’t cut it!  While we do often use herbs as a flavor enhancer, we can also use them in volume and treat them more like a vegetable.  Consider salads such as Tabbouleh.  Tabbouleh is a Lebanese salad that is based on parsley and mint with lesser amounts of bulgur, tomatoes, lemon, etc.  Instead of using tablespoons of parsley, you use cups of parsley!  So if your parsley is going crazy right now, make a bowl of this fresh salad!  I also like to make simple vegetable salads throughout the summer and fall that are heavy on herbs, such as a Carrot Parsley Salad that is nothing more than shredded carrots, lots of chopped fresh parsley and a light lemon vinaigrette.

There are other ways to use larger quantities of herbs.  Pesto is something most people are familiar with.  If your basil plant has become a bush, it’s time to trim it back and make a big batch of basil pesto.  You’d be surprised at how much basil you can use in a single batch!  If you have the potential to make more pesto than you can consume right now, reach for your full potential and make extra.  You can easily freeze it in small jars or ice cube trays so you have it available to use throughout the winter.  Pull some out and add it to pasta sauce, soup, spread it on pizza crust and bread or make a quick pasta dish with it.

Chimichurri

Chimichurri is an Argentinian herb sauce-type preparation that is based on parsley and oregano.  It’s a delicious accompaniment to grilled meat, but I also like to toss roasted potatoes and root vegetables with it just before serving them.

Of course you can use your fresh herbs to make flavorful vinaigrettes, add them to egg dishes such as frittatas, quiche and egg casseroles, use them in marinades or to season roasted meats, and don’t forget adding them to green smoothies!  But even with an intentional effort to incorporate more herbs into your meals, it can be hard to keep up with your garden.  So lets transition our thinking to preservation.  The most obvious way to preserve herbs is by drying them.  Some herbs retain their flavor better when dried than others.  Parsley, thyme, sage, savory and oregano are good candidates for drying.  When you’re ready, go ahead and harvest a large quantity.  I dry them on the stem, but you could pull the leaves off the stem before you dry them.  You can lay them out in a single layer either on dehydrator sheets if you’re using a low heat dehydrator or on cookie sheets if you are using a low heat oven.  I also sometimes make little bundles of herbs and tie off the stem end with a rubber band to hold the bunch together.  Then I hang the bunches on hooks in my kitchen to let them air dry. If you do this, make sure they are in a good location with adequate airflow and out of direct sunlight.  Once your herbs are dry, strip the leaves off the stems, crush the leaves into smaller pieces if you wish, and put them in a jar or sealed bag to retain their flavor as you use them throughout the winter.  Basil can be dried as well, although personally I don’t care for dried basil and prefer to preserve it in the form of pesto to retain more of that fresh basil flavor.  I don’t have any experience drying chervil, so I can’t offer any expertise on the outcome.  If you’ve had success with drying chervil, please let me know!

Herb Salt, photo from howsweeteats.com

I do know chervil would be a good herb to preserve in the form of herbed butter!  Herbed Butter is also called Compound Butter.  You can make it with any mix of herbs you have in your garden.  It’s great to have in the refrigerator to use when making scrambled eggs, melt it over steamed vegetables, use it in sauces for pasta, melt a pat on top of grilled steak or fish, or just simply spread it on warm bread! You can use it fresh, but it can also be frozen.  It really is fun to find some frozen herb butter in the freezer in the middle of winter!  I’ve included a recipe with this article to guide you in the proportions.  You can also make Herb Salt.  You can make individual herb salts or blend some of the herbs you have available to make your own custom blends.  These also make great Christmas gifts!

Herb oils and herb vinegars are also ways to preserve herbs.  Mountain Rose Herbs has some great information on their blog about how to make Herbal Vinegar.  They also have a lot of great information about making Herb Infused Culinary Oils as well as Bath Salts and more!

Herb Infused Honey

While we often think of herbs mostly in the context of culinary use, the herbs in our herb packs also have medicinal properties.  Two years ago Jean Schneider wrote a great article for us about Fall Herb Preservation & Ways to Use Culinary Herbs Medicinally.  Jean is a longtime HVF supporter and is a herbalist at Nativa Medica.  In her article she offered suggestions for how to make Sage Infused Honey as well as how to use Sage and Thyme as teas to keep us healthy through the winter.  The Latin name for garden sage actually means “healing plant.”  While it’s a tasty culinary herb, it can also help ward off colds and soothe sore throats as it has anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties.  Thyme is also beneficial for supporting respiratory health and enhancing immunity.  These are just a few examples of how your culinary herb garden can also be your medicinal herb garden.

Some of the herbs in your herb pack are perennials, meaning they are more winter hardy and can survive the winter.  Sage, thyme, oregano and savory are perennials.  Basil, chervil and parsley are annuals and most likely will not survive the winter.  To increase the chances of winter survival, we recommend putting some mulch around the base of your perennial herb plants.  You can use straw or even just dried leaves.  Don’t totally cover the plant, just tuck some mulch around the base to buffer the base from the cold and cover the bare ground.

I hope I’ve given you a few ideas for ways to maximize your herbs as we enjoy the last few weeks of summer and prepare for fall and winter.  It’s hard to imagine that those spindly little plants we delivered back in May can produce enough product for us to enjoy both now and throughout the winter!  Have fun using and preserving your herbs and as always, we invite you to send us pictures and emails about what you’re doing.  Our Facebook Group is another great place to share your projects and pictures!

Herb Butter

Yield: ¾ cup

Stir together in a small bowl, mixing well:

• 8 Tbsp (1 stick) butter, softened
• ½ cup chopped herbs (such as parsley, chervil, etc)
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• Squeeze of lemon juice
• Salt and fresh-ground pepper
• A pinch of cayenne

Taste and adjust the salt and lemon as needed.

Variations:

• Chopped shallots and pounded garlic are delicious additions.
• For a more lemony flavor, add some finely grated lemon zest.
• For a more pungent butter that is perfect with corn on the cob, flavor with dried chile peppers, soaked, drained, and pounded to a paste.

This recipe comes from The Art of Simple Food, by Alice Waters.  You can use this butter fresh, but I’d recommend using it within a week of making it.  Herbed butter is also a good way to preserve the fresh flavor of herbs and can be frozen.  Pack it in small jars or roll it into logs.  While the butter is still soft, lay out a sheet of parchment or waxed paper.  Using a knife, spread the butter in the middle of the paper and form it into a log shape.  Lay the paper over the butter and gently roll the butter to form a log.  Twist the ends of the log and then either wrap it in plastic wrap or put it in a freezer bag.  Pop it in the freezer and pull it out whenever you’re ready to use it!

Thyme Flies When You’re Having Fun!

“We have neglected the truth that a good farmer is a craftsman of the highest order, a kind of artist."

― Wendell Berry

Thyme Flies When You’re Having Fun! Herb Packs Are Back!

By Farmer Richard

Back in our early days of CSA, we used to include more herbs in the CSA shares.  We invested time and money to grow a wide variety, spent time harvesting & bunching them, and then heard frequently from members that they were not using all of the herbs in a bunch before they went bad.  As we looked at our cost of production, we quickly realized some of these herbs were not a sustainable venture.  We brought this issue up with our members at a core group meeting.  Dear, sweet Marilyn, a long time CSA member, offered us an excellent solution to this problem.  Give us the herb plants and we can grow and harvest our own herbs as we need them!  What a great idea!  Ever since then, we’ve made herb packs a standard part of our vegetable shares. 

This week we’re delivering herb packs to your sites. They have filled up their little cells in the pack and are ready to be planted, so put on your gardening gloves and have some fun!  You can plant your herbs in a garden space or in pots to keep on your patio, porch or kitchen window sill if you’re limited on space.  Choose good, loose garden soil mixed with lots of compost (up to 1” mixed into the soil if you’re planting into a garden space).  The plants will do best in well-drained soil with full sun.  If you don’t have a space with full sun exposure, partial sun will be OK too.  If you have rabbits or other little herb-loving critters in your yard, you might need to fence your herbs to protect them. 

There are four perennial herbs in your pack:  Oregano, Sage, Thyme and Savory.  These herbs can survive the winter and will consistently come back year after year, so consider where you’d like to establish these herbs in your garden.  Sage and oregano will get quite large, so it is best to give them about 2 square feet of space in the area you plant them in.  Each year I cut off all the old wood from my sage plant to make room for the new growth.  Thyme and savory are a bit smaller and only need about 1 square foot of space. 

The remaining plants in your pack are annuals and include Italian Basil, Chervil, Italian Parsley and Curly Parsley (although the parsley plants in my garden survived the winter last year).  Italian basil and chervil need to be cut back regularly to delay flower and seed formation.  Parsley will continue to produce throughout the season, so don’t be afraid to cut these plants back too.  If you can’t use your herbs as fast as they are growing, cut the extra herbs anyway and preserve them for use later.  Dry them in a low-heat oven or in a food dehydrator and put them to use in the winter.  Later in the season, we’ll be writing a follow-up article about different ways you might preserve your herbs before the last hard frost of the season sets in.  Watch for that information in the fall!

I hope you can find a good place to plant your herbs so you may enjoy them throughout the CSA season this year.  If you need help identifying your plants, refer to the pictures below:
  

BASIL

 CHERVIL

 CURLY PARSLEY

 ITALIAN PARSLEY

 OREGANO

SAGE 

 SAVORY

 THYME

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Green Onions & Pea Vine: A Peasful Pair!

By:  Laurel Blomquist & Andrea Yoder

     Onions are a staple of American cuisine for their ability to create layers of flavor in dishes. We strive to include at least one member of the allium or onion family in every CSA box. In the spring, we start with overwintered Egyptian walking onions and potato onions. Later, we move on to spring scallions and green top cipollini onions. Next, sweet onions arrive just before the red and yellow storage onions, which we can utilize all winter.

     The name of this week’s onion variety, Egyptian walking onion, is a bit mysterious. It is commonly known that ancient Egyptians were among the first to cultivate onions, so perhaps the name honors this heritage. The ‘walking’ part of their name takes an active imagination. Most onions, when left in the field, will produce flowers and eventually seeds from which you can plant new onions. These, however, will produce mini-onions, or sets, at the top of the plant. This top-set is so heavy that the plant slowly falls to the ground. Wherever the set lands, a new plant will begin. The process will infinitely repeat itself if given the space, hence over time, it appears as if the onion is indeed walking down the field!

     At this point, I’m sure you’re scratching your head, so I’ll prepare you for next week’s onion variety, potato onions. You may know them by their other name, multiplier onions. Both names imply the same thing: planting one set or bulb in the ground will produce around five onions if given time to multiply. If you know anything about planting potatoes, it’s that we don’t plant potato seeds. Instead, we plant a piece of potato, which sprouts and produces a plant that yields a group of potatoes. Potato onions got their name because they behave in the same way.

     The rest of our onions, including spring scallions, are planted and grown from seed. They are the first thing we plant in the greenhouse every February. Can you believe it takes that many months to produce onions from seed in Wisconsin?

     One bunch of potato onion, Egyptian onion, or scallion equals roughly four ounces, and yields ½ cup when chopped. Their milder flavor means you can use them in raw or cooked applications. Enjoy the first onions of spring!

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     Pea Vine is actually an immature pea plant that is harvested before the vine starts to develop blossoms. It has a mild, sweet pea flavor and may be eaten raw or lightly cooked.  While the tendrils and leaves are tender, the main stem can sometimes get tough depending on how mature the plant is at harvest. This week’s pea vine is very young and most of the stem is still tender. Next week’s pea vine may be a bit more mature and you may find some of the lower stem is a bit more coarse. If you find this to be the case, pick the tender leaves, tendrils and thin stems off the main stem. I must admit that I don’t like to spend a lot of time sorting through a bunch of pea vine and I prefer to use as much of the bunch as I can...plus there is a lot of flavor in the stem! Thus, when the pea vine is more mature and some of the stems are a bit more coarse, I tend to use pea vine in ways that allow me to blend it in a blender or food processor to make things such as pea vine pesto or pea vine cream cheese (both recipes may be found on our website). 

     The other way I like to use pea vine is in sauces, soups or broth. I generally chop the pea vine into smaller pieces and add it to hot broth or a sauce base. Let the pea vine simmer briefly to extract the flavor, but don’t overcook it or you’ll lose the bright pea flavor. Once you’ve infused the flavor of the pea vine into the sauce or broth, you can strain it out to remove it. If you’d like to extract just a little more flavor, blend the mixture before straining it. Enjoy!