cooking and flavoring with fresh herbs

i've seen a lot of stuff on permies about medicinal herbs, but not a dedicated thread about just plain ol' eatin' herbs. (though some of them are still indeed medicinal)

so here's me starting one with this nifty infographic.

It's not how they say to store it, but I like to keep some dill in a ziploc in the freezer. When you pull it out the individual leaves just fall off without having to chop.

Additionally, I've found thyme (Lemon and English varieties) easiest to work with when dry. The leaves/needles easily separate from the woody stems at that point and they can be used whole or ground.

Ohh thanks for this, great graphic!

I am so grateful to now live in a place where so many herbs are perennials - the rosemary, sage, thyme, and oregano are all growing fast and furious now that spring has finally decided to arrive. And the chives are coming up!

My favorite herb for most things is thyme. I love the smell, and the earthy flavor it adds to a dish - I love it in pea soup. It makes a great herbal vinegar, too. My second favorite cooking herb is summer savory. It's great on roast potatoes and in bean dishes. Yum!

Why should you put herbs in the fridge instead of picking them fresh? They lose flavour! For thyme I love lemon thyme but it is a bit less winter hardy. And I discovered sisho.

One reason is many of us don't have all those herbs in their gardens so we can't just go out and pick them.  

Last year I picked 3 herbs and three flowers for my Monarch Butterfly Garden.  Loveage, Lemon Balm and Yarrow.  I only got yarrow.  I later tried Lavender and soapwort with no luck.  This year I bought lavender. I am trying the lemon balm from seed without luck again [the seed was Burpees from the big box store].  I wanted creeping thyme but the seller said it was hard to grow and I haven't found a plant to buy.

I really like the chart because of the Key Flavor Profile and the cooking tip!

Something new I've learned for myself over the past year is that my spice mill (alright, a coffee grinder I bought for this purpose) can handle fresh herbs like thyme and savory, even grinding the smaller stems. With the wetter herbs, if I combine a drier ingredient, I can grind them together. Before I thought they needed to be dried before grinding.

With cooler weather and the thought of winter coming I have been cutting and drying my herbs.  I also put a few in the freezer.

I have really enjoyed my fresh herbs right out of my garden but I also want to have them to use this winter.