It's a fact: Homegrown, freshly harvested herbs from your own garden are simply more flavorful than those from the grocery store. In the accompanying video, herb expert Marilyn Buehler talks about the best herbs for culinary uses. First, you'll learn how to grow and harvest them. Then follow along as she explains when it's better to use them fresh or dried. You'll learn the various methods for drying them, how to flavor your favorite dishes and make them into healthy teas.
Culinary Herbs Video Transcript
Editor's note: The following transcript has been edited for readability.)
Introduction
Everybody, I want to introduce Marilyn Buehler. She's a master at herbs and gardening. Anyway, thank you all for coming out today and I'm going to turn it over to Marilyn and get started.
I have been involved with herbs for decades. My late husband and I had an herb farm back in the 70s and 80s. And I just grew up with herbs.
My grandmother from Denmark raised me and when I had a broken arm, instead of taking me to the doctor, she got comfrey leaf and wrapped my arm just like a doctor would do. And she was no doctor. But I won't touch too much on medicinal herbs because I don't know what medicines you all are taking, and a lot of your medicines today are derived from herbs.
Culinary Herbs
Okay, so we'll start with cooking herbs. Up here, I've got sage, basil, marjoram, dill, fennel, peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, bee balm, monarda, it has several names. And I have my two very best types of lavender you can grow: Munstead and hidcote.
The hidcote will have more of a blue-purple flower and both of these flower profusely. And this one will have more of a light lilac purple color. But this one produces profusely. I mean, it just flowers all summer long, for those of you who like to pick your flowers. I also make my own teas with them, which are really, really good.
They're really easy to grow. Most of them at one time or another throughout their long, long millennial history, most people considered them to be weeds. And then somehow or another something taught them that these were useful.
Herbs for Mosquito Control
Do you use any of your herbs for keeping mosquitoes and flies at bay? Lemongrass, rosemary, lavender — any of those — you want to plant around your porch, patio and seating areas to repel mosquitoes. Also eucalyptus. Peppermint will repel spiders. They just don't like it.
Culinary wise, I brought some of my herbs from home. But you could tell the difference in the oregano that you get at the store and the oregano you grow and dry yourself.
Fennel
I love fennel. I grow fennel for the butterflies. At my apartment, I've got them in a pot. And they already have something in there, a little bitty worm of some sort (black swallowtail caterpillars). But the seeds, the fresh seeds, if you even like black licorice, that's what they taste like. And they're a very good breath freshener. A half a teaspoon or a quarter teaspoon of the fresh seeds will alleviate tummy problems. I know that for a fact, it works. But fennel is, I just like it. It winters over. And when it gets bigger, like it's second year, I'll cut some of these, the wider stems, put them in salads. It is delicious and it's good for you.
Dill
A lot of people use dill seed. I haven't used dill seed in I don't know how long. I dry the yellow flowers when they first come out and the weed, the dill weed is sweeter. Your seeds are bitter unless you mix them in. There are several reasons why you would prefer not to use the seeds. And I can't really think of one where you would use the seeds. But believe me, you will love it. It's sweeter and it has a more delicate dill flavor.
Oregano
There are several kinds of oregano. Greek oregano is probably the hardiest and the best one to grow. It's very sun tolerant here in Texas. It's a perennial. It grows into a nice bush. And you can use it for all sorts of things.
Sweet Marjoram
Sweet marjoram. It's awesome. I prefer it to oregano in my spaghetti sauces. It's an annual. It won't winter over unless it's protected. If the weather gets in the mid 30s, it will kill it unless it's in a protected position.
Bee Balm
Bee balm, Oswego tea, monarda, there are several names for this. And contrary to popular opinion that I think has been going around for centuries, it was not the tea stolen in the Boston Tea Party. It just wasn't. But still, the leaves and the flowers are delicious. When you grow it, you want to grow it where it gets morning sun because the hot afternoon sun will kill it. It just can't take that. It comes in red and pink and purple. The red is definitely a hybrid. Its color normally is purple to a darker pink.
Lemon Balm
Lemon balm, another one of my favorites. It's good for tea. It's good to repel mosquitoes. I have some big pots that I have around my patio in my apartment. I plant mint and lemon balm. I'll put some rosemary and lemongrass in a big pot. It's like those big ones the trees are in. And you just need to water them.
Parsley
There's several different kinds of parsley. Italian flat leaf parsley is the one to use for culinary purposes. I like to chew on it. It makes your mouth feel good and it's a breath freshener. It dries well so if I don't use it all, I dry it.
Thyme
There's all kinds of thyme. English thyme is my favorite. It's a perennial. It grows practically anywhere. It doesn't require a lot of work to grow it. When it blooms, the bees love it. And I found out a couple of years ago that those wolf spiders — you know, those big things? They love it, too. So be careful if you grow it. For some reason, I had never seen any spiders on it until about three years ago. I had a big area of English thyme and it was early spring. Well, mid-spring. And every day I'd go out and water or just check on my garden and there would be these two big wolf spiders. I went out one day and there were a bunch of tiny little wolf spiders. So I contacted a friend of mine at the University of Illinois and he said, Yeah, we've known for years that they like thyme. I've grown thyme in this for probably 50 years. And that was the one time I saw the wolf spider.
Basil
Who doesn't like basil? And it comes in so many different varieties. This is your plain, large leaf basil. It's beautiful to grow. It's great to grow around your tomatoes and your cucumbers.
Making Zests from Citrus Fruits
How many of you make your own orange or lemon peels?
You buy organic lemons, too, or you scrub them really well. You can use any kind of grater. I prefer this one because it leaves them a little more whole and they retain more flavor. But that's something that you may want to consider doing because I've tried it with the store-bought zest. It's just not nearly as good.
I know you probably think I'm against store-bought herbs, but I am not. There are some things that I just can't grow in this country. So I do buy my spices and herbs sometimes.
What is the process for drying orange peel or lime or lemon peel? When you get your fruit, you want to wash them well. Even if they're organic, you just don't need to wash them as well. You dry them well. You take your grater and just zest the whole lime. Then I slice it. I've use little plastic containers and I freeze the juice to use in different things. I prefer lime juice over lemon juice. Then you can add some lime peel to your green beans, to your potatoes, to any of your vegetables.
Last night for supper, I had cabbage, onion, carrots, turnips, and sweet potato diced up and peeled. And I put some olive oil over it. And I put a little bit of thyme, salt and pepper. And then I put my lemon zest, lime zest, and mixed it up. And it is delicious.
To dry it, you put it in a paper plate. Every morning, I just shake it a little bit until it is dry. This is two years old.
Fertilizing Your Herbs
A lot of herbs do better with fertilizer. Now, I'm not just promoting organic Espoma Garden-tone for herbs. In St. Louis didn't use it because we had a big compost pile there. But I've used that for many years.
Use Garden-tone once every two to three weeks. Just sprinkle it onto the soil and water it in, and it will grow beautiful plants. For those of you that grow in pots, if you're still using last year's dirt, get your root stimulator.
You mix three tablespoons to a gallon, or whatever you want to use, and then you just use it once a month during the growing season. Especially at first, it will help your roots grow, and good roots are indicative of a good plant.
Bug Repellents
Now, there are all sorts of bug repellents. I have always used this: neem oil.
I mix my own. I bought my own bottle. It's available in a concentrate, a hose-end applicator, and in a ready to use spray bottle. They work really well. I have never had luck with ladybugs staying in my yard for my aphids, but you can spray this, according to directions, on any of your plants, especially your herbs.
Do you spray the neem oil in the sun or the shade? I always use it in the shade. If you put any kind of oil repellent on your plants in the sun, it will eat holes in the leaves.
Marigolds
My grandmother who raised me always planted marigolds around everything. Of course, we didn't have all these different varieties of them.
Calendula
I love calendula because it's a medicinal herb that makes the best hand cream. If you extract the oils from it, which is easy to do in a slow cooker, you can make your own calendula cream.
Rosemary & Lavender
Rosemary does not like a lot of water at all. You want your rosemary and your lavenders to be where they have good drainage.
Sage
Sage does not like to have wet feet.
Growing in Containers
Do you all know how to prepare your pots if you're growing in pots? You can take those organic peanuts that are made from cornstarch. Some people use the styrofoam peanuts, and I guess it doesn't make any difference, but if you've got a big pot, you want to fill it halfway full of the styrofoam. I've read lately where people are using aluminum soda cans that are bent up to lighten the load of the plants, and aluminum doesn't rust, so it wouldn't hurt the pot or the plants.
Companion Planting Combinations
You don't want to plant dill or fennel near anything else in your garden. They do not grow good together with much of anything.
Harvesting
About harvesting, when you first bring your rosemary, your lemon balm, your spearmint, your oregano, your sweet marjoram, and your catnip, you want to just trim a little bit off the top. For small snippets like I make, I use paper plates, and I just leave them on my kitchen counter. They don't draw bugs, and the apartment people have been very good about keeping bugs at bay in the apartment, and I just do that. That's one way to dry them.
If your basil is this big and you want to harvest a large amount of it, you really can harvest them at most any time, but the best time to harvest them is in the morning, after the sun dries the dew, and in the evening after the heat of the day is gone. You don't want to let your rosemary get too short. I have cut very long stems on my oregano.
Drying Methods
There are several ways to dry. Some people use microwaves, which you can do. You would get a paper plate or a microwave safe plate. Put down some parchment paper. Don't use paper towel and put your snippets there. If you're harvesting a lot, you do not want to pile them up. They need room to air in between. You would lay these on your plate. I think you do it at 50 percent, and you do it slowly. You do it one minute at a time until it reaches the desired dryness. I don't like that method because it over-dries them and makes them not good.
One of the methods that I like to use is to put your plants on cardboard flats. Even if you get a dirty one, clean it, let it dry, whatever. I put paper towels over the bottom, and I'll wash my herbs first, and I just lay them in there. I have a large bowl I used to make cucumbers and other things in it when I had a family at home. I fill that with cold water, and I put in a bunch of herbs, and then I wash them really well. Then I lay them out on dish towels to dry. I'll spread them out — not on top of each other. They can be close and touching. I pat them dry then let them sit on my kitchen counter for about three hours, and that pretty much dries them. Then I put them in my cardboard flats.
Another method, which I like to use on parsley, and you can use this on any herb, is a paper lunch sack. You can use a brown one or a white one.
You take the bag, you clean your herbs like I showed you, then you take the flowery end, and you put that in the bag. Be sure to write on the bag what it is, because you may not recognize it after it's dried. The stem ends will stick out. You can tie it with a string or wrap it with a rubber band. Then I stick it in the top part of my refrigerator, and it takes three weeks to dry, but they are so beautifully green and flavorful. They are just really, really good.
Making Tea
If you'll notice your tea bags, they have about a heaping teaspoon. You have to know your herb strength.
I like spearmint better than peppermint and I use the dried herb. I probably put a fourth of a cup to make a liter of tea in a pitcher. You use twice as much with fresh herbs. I put a good fourth cup in, and then I buy the Louisiana decaf tea bags, that's for quarts, and I'll put one of those in. You can also add some lemon balm and catnip. But if you just want catnip tea from your dried herbs, you just use about a heaping teaspoon, either in a tea bag or a tea container.
The question was asked earlier about the temperature of the water you use. You don't want boiling water unless you're using some spices, and even then, I don't.
I'll take a Louisiana decaf tea bag, a fourth cup of my dried spearmint. Or you can use the fresh herb. You just need to use twice as much. So if you're using dried herbs and they call for a teaspoon of fresh herbs, you want to use a half a teaspoon.
Then you can add lemon peel or lime peel. I don't like lemons as much as I like limes, so I don't do much with lemons, but it's the same thing as with limes, lemons, and oranges.
I tried using the fennel when my kids were younger and they would get upset stomachs, because fennel is good for your digestive tract. My grandmother tells me, and we used it on my daughter when she was born. You place some fennel on the tip of the baby's tongue and if they had colic or anything like that, it would alleviate it temporarily.
How to Make Four Thieves Vinaigrette
Four Thieves Vinaigrette is a good marinade for meats. It's good to put over fish, and it's good on any salad you want. Well, I don't know about potato salad, but your green leafy salads and vegetables. It is really good. I haven't bought store salad dressing in forever. It's so easy to make yourself. You use the Four Thieves vinegar and whatever kind of oil you want. You can spice it up with a little bit of fresh garlic.
The taste between what you make at home and what you buy in the store is really different. And it lasts, Most recipes make about half a cup.
People thought I was crazy when I did this years ago, but it was something my grandmother did: She put her dressing in the salad bowl first. If there were going to be four dressing ingredients, she'd put in four tablespoons. She'd just take the ingredients and put them in the bottom. Then she would add her onions and other vegetables. She always added her lettuce last. Then when she serve it, she would take her spoon and, scooping from the bottom, she would turn it and it would evenly coat everything. It's really a good way to make your salad.
Conclusion
Below are some helpful information sheets you can download to get more enjoyment out of your gardening and culinary adventures.