Herb Guide

Nothing beats the flavor and aroma of freshly cut herbs. They are easy to grow, even in the smallest of gardens or on a window sill. No patience for gardening? The supermarkets carry a large selection of fresh herbs in the produce section. Fresh herbs will add a touch of summer to all your recipes.

Basil

Fresh basil has a pungent flavor that is very common and popular. Use it in tomato sauces, pesto sauces, vinegar, and with lamb, fish, poultry, pasta, rice, tomatoes and Italian dishes.
Try these recipes:
Grilled Shrimp Italiano
Shells with Tomato & Basil

Parsley

This fresh-flavored herb, slightly green and piny, is more commonly used as a flavoring and as a garnish. Use to flavor grilled meat, poultry, soups, omelets, mashed potatoes, and salads. It may be used in herbal butters and vinegars or as a garnish.
Try these recipes:
Garlic Mashed Potatoes Dijon
Creamy Chicken and Mushrooms

Oregano

This herb has a strong flavor and aroma. Used to flavor tomato sauces, vinegar, omelets, quiche, bread, marinated vegetables, beef, poultry, black beans, and pizza.
Try these recipes:
Italian-Style Red Pepper Dip
Herbed Onion Marinated Steak

Cilantro

Use in Asian and Mexican cooking or as a garnish. Popular in salsa, guacamole, Thai peanut sauce, enchiladas, and chicken dishes. Cilantro is also called coriander and has a pungent fragrance.
Try these recipes:
Creamy Pico de Gallo Bean Salad
Black Bean Dip
Grilled Chicken with Sassy Citrus Salsa
Chipotle Pork Tenderloin with Plantain and Orange Salsa

Tarragon

This aromatic herb, with narrow, pointed, dark green leaves, is known for its distinctive anise-like flavor. Use to flavor vinegars, herbal butter, shellfish, mayonnaise, sour cream dressing, poultry, turkey, mushrooms, broccoli, and rice. Use the fresh leaves in salads, tartar sauce, and French dressing.
Try these recipes:
Garden Vegetable Dip
Pecan-Encrusted Pork with Peaches

Rosemary

Rosemary's silver-green, needle-shaped leaves are highly aromatic and their flavor is one of both lemon and pine. Use for poultry, lamb, veal, pork, and tomato dishes, stews, soups, and vegetables. Also good finely chopped in breads and custards.
Try these recipes:
Herb-Roasted Lamb
Roasted Garlic-White Bean Spread

Sage

This slightly bitter and musty-mint tasting herb has narrow, oval, and gray-green leaves. Use in chicken and turkey stuffing and to flavor sausages.
Try these recipes:
Sirloin Steak with Red Onion Relish

Dill

This tangy and pungent flavored herb is known for its feathery green leaves. Use to flavor fish and rice, sprinkle over potatoes and cucumbers and add to sauces and dips.
Try these recipes:
Dill Potato Salad
Veggie Pizza Appetizer

Chives

This mild onion flavor herb has slender, vivid green, and hollow stem. Use as topping for baked potatoes, fish & poultry, and vegetables. It can be used as a substitute for green onions or as a garnish. It is also great in soups and sauces.
Try these recipes:
Herb Dip
Hearty Golden Chowder

Thyme

This herb has pungent minty, light-lemon scent. Use in stews, soups, casseroles, meatloaf, stuffing, marinades, and vegetables.
Try these recipes:
Caribbean Jerk Chicken Breasts

Mint

This aromatic herb has a sweet smell and a cool aftertaste. Use to make teas, beverages, and desserts. It can also be used as a garnish. It is also popular in Indian cuisine.
Try these recipes:
Lebanese Lentils & Red Peppers
Savory Gorgonzola Spread

Allspice: The dried berry of the pimento tree of the West Indies. Used as a condiment. The name is due to the flavor which resembles a combination cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Anise: The fruit of a small annual plant which dries into the form of a seed. The best is grown in Spain, Mexico and India. Used on breads, cakes, and cookies and as a flavoring for medicines and licorice products.

Basil: An annual plant cultivated in Western Europe. Leaves are dried ground and powdered. Used to flavor soups, sauces, sausages, and stews. The flavor combines well with tomatoes.

Bay Leaf: The aromatic leaves of the sweet-bay or laurel tree. Dried whole and used to flavor soups, meats, and pickles.

Balm: A perennial garden herb with a sharp lemon scent. Use fresh or dried in soups and salads.

Capers: The flower buds of Capparis spinosa grown in Mediterranean countries. Pickled ands used as a condiment.

Caraway: A biennial herb with a aromatic fruit usually known as caraway seeds. Used in bread, cookies, cakes, candies, salads, and cheese. Marketed whole or ground.

Cardamon: An aromatic fruit of a number of zinziberaceous plants grown in Ceylon, India, and Central America. The fruit is in the shape of a pod with seeds inside. Sold in the whole pod, as whole seeds or as ground seeds. Used as a condiment.

Cayenne Pepper: Powdered pods and seeds of various capsincums yielding a hot savory flavor used in meat dishes and gravies and sometimes called red pepper. Grown mainly in Africa.

Celery Seed: Seed of a small plant similar in appearance and taste to celery. Used whole or ground to flavor soups, stews, cheese, pickles, and some salads. Southern France, India, and the Untied States are producers.

Celery Salt: Mixture of ground celery seed and fine white salt. Used in meats, salads, soups, and many other dishes.

When Jack's a very good boy,
He shall have cakes and custard;
But when he does nothing but cry
He shall have nothing but mustard.