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Whether you have a whole herb garden or a few pots on your porch or windowsill, if you have an abundance of herbs, you can sometimes feel stumped as to what to do with them all.
Once you have sprinkled a handful of chopped chives here, and popped a few pieces of parsley as garnish there, what else is there?
Well, actually, lots of things. Fresh herbs are a powerhouse of nutrients and contain lots of healthful compounds that our body will be thankful for.
Fresh herbs can add a punch of flavor to many dishes, but can also be the leading flavor, too. There are the woody herbs, such as rosemary and sage, and the lighter, greener, and more succulent herbs, such as basil, cilantro, tarragon, dill, and mint.
Whichever you are dealing with, check out these ideas for making your herbs the star of the show.
1. Add Pep to Your Salads
Long gone on the days of limp, uninspiring lettuce salads. With so many delicious fresh greens, such as arugula and other baby greens, green salads can stand their ground.
But, adding a few fresh green herbs to the mix can really step things up a bit. No one is asking you to make a whole salad from chopped herbs. This could be quite overpowering unless you are ready, but adding a few leaves of basil, or a bit of chopped cilantro can add a punch of flavor to a few bites.
2. Create Herb Infused Oil
Source: eHow/YouTube
Infusing herbs into oil is quite an easy endeavor with lofty results. Herb-infused oils are great to use as finishing oils on pasta dishes or roast veggies and make wonderful gifts.
In addition, there are many benefits of using these infusions topically for your skin and hair. As well, different culinary and medical herbs can add an aromatherapeutic or healing element to your bathtime routine.
3. Infuse Sea Salt
Making your own herbal salt is very easy to do. It makes use of the copious amounts of fresh herbs you still have in your garden even when you have dried bunches of them, made herbal teas, and filled jars with homemade pesto. It is an excellent way of preserving fresh herbs to be used throughout the year.
Try to stay away from the basic table salt for herb infusing. As with the overuse of any salt, table salt comes with its issues. It doesn’t have nearly the nutrient content that other salts have, and its structure doesn’t work as well in these recipes. It is better to opt for the coarser varieties.
4. Have a Herby Cocktail (or Mocktail)
If you are a budding mixologist, try bringing herbs into the equation. Fresh herbs can really complement the flavor of the alcoholic beverage or mixer of choice.
There’s the classic mint with that julep, but other herbs could work really well in mixed drinks, too. Try keeping things regional with a little cilantro in your tequila. Maybe add basil or tarragon to gin and rosemary to citrusy drinks.
Those minty and lemony herbs can work in a number of different cocktails to help cut any sweetness. Let your imagination run!
5. Dry Your Herbs
Source: Melissa K. Norris – Modern Homesteading/YouTube
If you really have so many herbs that you couldn’t possibly get through using them fresh, why not try drying some so that you can use them throughout the year?
It will be much cheaper than having to buy individual jars of herbs from the supermarket, and you rest safe in the knowledge of knowing exactly where they came from.
Check out this OGP article for tips and ideas on how best to dry the herbs you have, and help on how to store them to keep them fresh until next season- How to Dry Herbs for Autumn and Winter Use.
6. Get Inventive with Pesto
Let’s be honest, true pesto is made from basil, and there is certainly no reason to mess with this classic. However, there are lots of other herbs that lend themselves to pesto-like sauces, too.
Choose green, tender herbs such as parsley, dill, cilantro, tarragon, chives, lemon balm, and mint. These blend up well and have similar properties to basil.
You don’t necessarily need to make a pesto using only your alternative herb. You can play around with adding other herbs to your basil-based pesto. There is lots of play with here. Have fun!
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