Woody Herbs I Use + Grow

Two days prior to this photo, taken by my spouse, I received the much talked about Pandemic Haircut. So it was only natural, that once I got to see this picture, what I first noticed was my hair. While this was an ”action shot” of me plucking herbs, what I first noticed was what looked like a very slight bald spot. I felt much better after realizing it was just showing bed-head. Then I saw the paler skin showing around my hair line, and noticed how much grayer I am getting … however, it is what you see me doing that is so important, and filling part my days while still stuck at home.

Your view of the picture will most likely start differently than my view. You will likely first notice all the oregano on my right, and just a hint of the sage I had cut back on the upper left. Second, those of you with sharp eyes will see a darker green patch near the upper plastic container, which is thyme. What I am doing is sitting out on a very nice May day, in my back yard, prepping the herbs that I grow, for drying.

Drying My Herbs

First I prune my herbs, each with its own requirements. Next I pluck (a word that Chef Gabby uses a lot, and in his honor I will use this term many times in this post) the leaves from the stems, which is what I am doing above.

Then I lay out the herb leaves in my kitchen near the sunny window or outside on this table to dry for up to ~10 days. About half way through, I go through the herbs again, to pull out bad leaves, stray stems I did not catch, and to make sure the leaves are drying properly. Then, they go back into their spots to continue drying. It is very important to not close up in a spice jar any undried herbs, it will ruin the batch.

The reason I do all this is not just to save money, but look at the differences in the picture below. Fresh oregano is a wonderful and pretty herb, the center is dried from a commercial vendor and it looks dead, the dried leaves in my son’s hands is my own dried oregano. If you had to choose between the two dried versions, which would you choose?

Organic Gardening

Remember all the things I say I am not? I am not a medical expert, an herbalist, a gardener, a Chef, and so on for a very long list. But I am a cook, and as such, I rely on spices and herbs to help deliver nutritious and yummy tasting foods. Because of my cooking, I work to grow certain fruits, veggies and lots of herbs in my back and front yards.

• I tend not to grow from seeds, although I have successfully grown radishes and chamomile from seeds. Instead, I go to a local nursery and buy small plants to start.

All the herbs, fruits, and veggies I grow are organic, I use no insecticides or fungicides. Which of course means I lose some of the crops to nature. I do, however, add to my soils using the very same food I eat.

• Crush egg shells are added for calcium loving plants: apples, lemons, limes, tomatoes
• Used tea leaves are sprinkled around: blueberries, kale, other greens
• Coffee grinds: I will try to only use a bit sprinkled around the blueberries and greens (kale, chard, etc.), but not too much as coffee is very acidic
• I apply mulch and organic straw on my garden to help feed the plants and limit weeds
• Natural plant food from the garden store is sprinkled around the yard in general

Since my micro-clime can get very cold and frosty during a few weeks in winter, I lay down some fresh organic hay every fall to keep the ground warm for my fruits, veggies, and herbs. The usual climate in my back yard is mediterranean, sunny, and fed water via a drip irrigation system.

Oregano

Herb: Oregano is a woody perennial herb that I use nearly every week for cooking. There are many versions of this herb, named generically by country: Greek, Mexican, Syrian and Cuban. I predominantly use and grow the Greek (or Italian) oregano. I have tasted Mexican oregano and find it a strong flavor, but have not yet cooked with it. I do try to get some Syrian oregano for those occasions when I make a batch of Za’atar. I have never tasted Cuban oregano, but since I have eaten African and Indian foods, no doubt it has been in some dish I liked.

Cooking: When fresh, Greek oregano is a gentle aromatic herb that can add a depth of flavor, and a great aroma to a dish. I like to use sprigs of it in cooking chicken, soups, stews and some warm pastas or salads. If you do not have any Greek oregano on hand, you can use marjoram as a replacement, it tastes just like oregano, but milder. I tend to use marjoram for more Southern European and sometimes Middle Eastern recipes.

Caution: When dried, the flavor can be more intense. If using the wrong kind of oregano for the dish, it can be an overwhelming flavor. Or if over used, say the recipe calls for fresh and you put in a similar amount of dry, it can have a flavor that tastes awful. So my advice on cooking with oregano is to follow the recipe exactly when using the dry herb, at least the first time. The fresh herb is more forgiving.

• Several years ago my spouse and I ate at a fancy restaurant at The Sea Ranch in Northern California. I ordered meat loaf and was amazed at its taste, I swear it tasted moldy. I took a few bites just to make sure I was tasting correctly, then asked my spouse to taste it, again, just in case it was me. It was not me. Then I looked around and saw other people with the same dish, but they looked okay with the food. Never have I tasted something served at an expensive restaurant that was so awful in my life. Later, I realized that the moldy-flavor most likely came from using way too much dried oregano instead of fresh. Or, perhaps they used Mexican Oregano which is stronger and more woodsy in flavor.

Pruning: I trimmed the overgrown oregano plant to about 4”, and removed as much of the woody dead branches and leaves that I could. I wanted to expose the new growth and let it get some sun. It will grow back so long as I trim back only to a point where leaves still show. Trim off all the leaves, or down to the ground, and you will need to buy a new plant.

I let it bloom for the bees, but leave the plant alone until well after I deadhead it, for I think it gets a bit bitter while blooming, so I cook with dried herb during blooming times.

• One note about growing oregano, I find it invasive, it will throw out suckers and can eventually take over a garden bed
• Oregano is not as invasive as mint however, but it does tend to take over

Sage

Herb: There are 700+ varieties of sage, most are not edible, so choose carefully. I grow what is called Garden or Common Sage. It is a perennial, evergreen, small wooden shrubby plant. It looks lovely in an herb garden, bees love the blooms, and it is so easy to grow. The flowers are edible.

Cooking: I guarantee you will not want to go back to grocery store dried sage once you have used the real, live version (either fresh or dried). My herb bottle contains the dried leaves, not crushed leaves + stems that have no flavor, but dried herbs that when you crush them in your hands you smell the herb.  Remember, although I find sage a strong herb, fresh sage has a lighter flavor than dried sage. So use less of the dried and more of the fresh when converting a recipe.

When I go out to pluck some leaves for cooking I grab one leaf at a time and gently pull down toward the ground. The leaf generally comes off the stalk and I take only what I need for the dish I am cooking. Then I will wash the leaves under running water, and thoroughly dry the leaves with paper towels before chopping.

Pruning: I had the same issue with my sage as with the oregano, the plant was overgrown and full of dead branches and leaves that needed to be removed. I trimmed these in the morning, before it got too hot. I had read that sage needed good air circulation, to prevent rot. Up until this point I had not pruned it, and it is now ~3 years of age. I should have pruned it in February, but am doing it now in May, and expect to do it again after it blooms. (I let it bloom for the bees appear to really like its pollen.)

But it can get somewhat cold here in the winter, with a few days of frost, so I do not want to trim too much later in the year. I will do a little each time and see what happens. Another thing I should have been doing is removing dead leaves whenever I see them, to keep it clear of rotting vegetation.

Drying: I pulled the leaves off the stems and set them out in the sun to dry. Toward the end of the day, I brought them in for the night and left them by the kitchen window to continue drying. I do not dry my herbs in a dryer, microwave, or oven, for it is too easy to burn the leaves. Instead, I leave them out on my table in the back yard or on my kitchen counter to dry. I think drying sage makes its flavor more intense, my spouse calls it pungent. Then later, within ~5 days, I will go through the sage to remove the longer stems, I really only want the leaves.

Just as I do with oregano branches, I scatter the still fragrant, leftover stems about the garden to help with pest control and to release a wonderful smell.

Storage: I will fill my spice/herb jar with the dried herb, and then will package up the rest to share with the people who work for me that have been occasionally going into work as “essential staff” during the pandemic. I want to give them a gift that I made as a way to personlly thank them for their efforts.

Thyme

Herb: Thyme, a woody herb, is a perennial plant that comes in over 300 varieties. The flowers are edible. Use the stems, from which you pluck the leaves and flowers, to pierce food like scallops or lobster while you cook them (remove before serving).

Cooking: This herb brings a very subtle, savory taste to my food and is a necessary ingredient when I cook Italian, French or Mediterranean food. I have three different types of thyme in my garden – French, lemon, caraway – but tend to take a bit from each plant for my dish so it is a mixture I cook with.

Pruning: These are smaller plants, so I tried to not take too much, and removed any woody stems that do not have leaves on them. Any new growth I try to leave alone. I did some trimming in October and now again in May. In October I clipped off the new growth to prevent frost damage, and did not cut any of the wooden parts. Throughout the year, I just trimmed off what I need to cook with and that has kept the plants looking good.

Once it begins to flower I do not take any of the leaves for cooking, relying instead on my dried ones. When blooming, the leaves lose flavor as the plants attention is on producing the flowers. I leave blooming herbs alone, again because of the bees, but will dead-head them as the spring and summer progresses.

Drying: Most folks cut a stem and bundle them together to hang and dry. However, I prefer to gather all the bundles and strip the leaves off right away and dry the leaves on a tray. It takes about a week for them to get really dry.

Storage: Store in a lidded container away from sun to maintain maximum flavor.

Rosemary

Herb: I grow a couple of rosemary bushes out front and use them for cooking. In my micro-climate rosemary grows well, despite the cold winters we can have. I planted two bushes out front (away from dog walkers) and they have been doing fine for over 10 years now; they generally grow for 20 years.

Rosemary is an evergreen shrub and looks lovely in the garden, and is a wonderfully strong herb with which to cook. Strip the leaves off the stem, but then also use the stem to pierce meat or fish and cook with them (remove before serving).

Cooking: I find that rosemary does not lose its flavor, fresh or dried, and it is a strong flavor indeed. It is possible to use too much rosemary so follow directions on the recipe. Also, the flavor is really on the underside of the leaves, so even when dried I tend to chop the rosemary before I cook with it, to help release oils. I only chop fresh rosemary once (in other words, I do not dice or mince rosemary), and will use toward the end of the cooking process as a seasoning to add a bite of bright flavor to the dish.

Pruning: I am pruning right now, just before it flowers as that is the best time for maximum flavor. I also let my rosemary bloom for the bees, and will later deadhead it. Throughout the year, I will grab what I need from the bush, except during blooming time.

Drying: I like making bundles of rosemary twigs, and hanging them outside. I have been told that if outside it will taste better longer. I leave them out until dry and then pluck the leaves off the branches.

Storage: Store in a lidded container away from sun to maintain maximum flavor.

Verbena

Herb: I have a perennial verbena that “dies” each winter and springs to life the following year. I use the leaves in tea and for other foods where I want to add that lovely rich lemony aroma, but I find the taste a bit bitter so offset it with something sweet, like honey. The flowers are edible. I have not dried it yet so cannot comment on dried leaves.

I have grown my lemon verbena for 4 years now, and although it can reach 6’ tall, mine ranges in the 3-4’. It appears as a shrub in the Spring and early summer but dies back to a bunch of woody stems for Fall and Spring.

LATimes reports that the leaves can be steeped, steamed, ground or infused in oils, vinegars and brines. The leaves are delicate, though, and break apart and lose their essence under high heat.

Lavender

I have other woody herbs, including some culinary lavender. While this plant is also considered a woody herb, I do not yet cook with it, so have not worked with those plants. They do have that gentle aroma, and look nice when properly pruned and maintained. I have read that the flowers of this type of lavender are also edible.

Salutations

Hope you enjoyed this DIY post. It happened to be a post I liked writing as it really hits all the points I attempt to check off my list.

From a pandemic point of view:

• Growing and drying your own herbs helps limit the times we need to go to the store
• It gives us something very productive to do, during “stay at home” times, that can use up time

And it also meets everyday check points I like in general for my posts:

• Saves money, as we do not need to buy expensive fresh or dried herbs
• Reduces waste, since we may only need a bit of an herb and the store prepackages them is sizes too large for our need
• Improves recipes by always having the fresh or dried herbs on hand
• Ups the nutritious and healthy value of our cooking by adding fresh, organic ingredients full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other goodies
• Allows us to share the bounty by drying and gifting herbs to neighbors, family, and friends
• Supports backyard pollinators

What joy my backyard brings, and what an abundance of herbs to use when cooking. I think that is the one thing that has made such a difference in my ability to cook good food.

—Patty

NEWS: It is not just the USA reporting tons of food wasted during this time of hunger. The BusinessInsider reports that France recently was announcing 5k tons of cheese may have to be dumped if not sold. Evidently, with the close of restaurants, tons of fresh, and expensive cheeses are sitting unsold. The EU and diary farmers are at odds as to how to fix this problem with the EU wanting to ay them to store the cheese, and the farmers wanting to be paid to reduce production. Either way, it is interesting to note that with all the restaurant closures there was a 60% reduction in sales.

Herb Flowers Tip: When using flowers from herbs try to not use much, not only can they change the taste of your dish, but cooks like me often prefer the touch of color (say 3-5 blooms) over a whole bouquet. The flowers are not added for particular nutrients, in this case, but for a pleasing visual. Sometimes even, a Chef will just cut bits of the flowers into the dish for a dash of purple or other color. I guess the way to put this is that dishes are accessorized by herb flowers.

NEWS: TRTWorld reports that WHO estimates 500k people die from cardiovascular disease related to the intake of trans-fat intake. As a response to that, Turkey has announced a new law requiring companies to limit the content of industrially produced trans fat in food starting in December. Turkey is following Denmark, which also passed a similar law.

NEWS: 5/8/2020 Reuters reports that the UFCW Union is opposing Trump’s orders to reopen meat processing plants because they cannot assure workers safety. Over 30 people have died, and over 10k have been infected with the virus due to meat processing plants operations and failure to take precautions.