Herb Spice:

Herbs As Spices

Herbs do more than add spice to the foods you cook. They also have important health benefits, and many herbs have been shown to contain remarkable healing properties.

Growing your own
Fortunately, herbs are easy to grow in your home herb garden. They are also quite inexpensive to buy, either fresh or dried. When buying herbs, whether they are dried or fresh, it's important to exercise caution and to buy only the freshest plants, seeds, flowers, roots, or leaves, or those dried herbs made by quality, reputable companies.

But the freshest herbs come from the home garden. Unlike many other forms of gardening, an herb garden takes up very little space. Most herb gardens can be grown using the smallest flower pots in a sunny windowsill. There are even kits which allow the cook to grow a variety of herbs directly from seed, all in one handy container.

There are a range of ways to use herbs in cooking. For instance, meats, stews, and pasta dishes can be enhanced with basil, garlic, oregano, and rosemary. Foods that are naturally sweet can be further enhanced with cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Extra heat can be added to many foods by adding a dash of white, black, or red pepper.

Herbs and dieting
Dieters often appreciate the ability of herbs to add flavor and variety to food without adding extra calories. When using fresh herbs in a recipe, the best technique is to gently crush the herbs in your hand in order to fully release their flavor. It is best to add the herbs near the end of the cooking process to preserve their flavor and nutritional value.

Now here are afew of the most commonly grown herbs in the home garden:

• Sweet basil (ocimum basilicum), in both the dark opal and the green variety are easy to grow from seed, and they generally germinate at 7 to 10 days. Basil can grow to a height of 18 inches, and it provides excellent flavor to tomato paste, pastas, soups, and stews.
  
• Chives (allium scboenoprasum) is a perennial plant which is popular in both herb gardens and more traditional garden patches. These tiny plants resemble spears of grass when they first sprout, but they can grow to a height of 12 inches. Chives are great in salads, sauces, and all kinds of egg dishes.
  
• Dill (anethum graveolens) is another easily grown herb, and it makes an excellent flavoring for meats and mashed potatoes. Dill is also excellent for use in pickling.
  
• Lavender (lavandula) is easy to grow as well, and it provides a fresh scent indoors and out. While not traditionally eaten, lavender is important in aromatherapy, and the dried leaves make excellent sachets for sprucing up closets.
  
• Mint (menthe spicat) is easy to grow and it can be grown indoors. Mint is an excellent accompaniment to fruit drinks and lemonade, and we all know how well mint jelly goes with lamb dishes.
• Sage (saivia officinalis) is another perennial plant that is grown indoors and out. This popular herb is excellent for use in chicken, turkey, and pork, and it's often used for flavoring sausage as well.
  

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