Bring the Garden to the Table
Yesterday while I was checking on my garden, I was pondering the many uses of each of the items and I watered them. Some had only a few uses that I could call to mind, while others had a list a mile long. For a while I wondered about this phenomena. Isn’t it interesting how often times we are limited by the knowledge of what our culture uses? It’s fascinating to go and do a little research about how other cultures might use a certain herb. You will learn so much about flavor matching and how there are so many varieties of ways to use and enjoy common herbs or vegetables.
Among my many (probably wasted) hours on Pinterest and Instagram, I love to investigate new and different, and beautiful, ways of using food-things. Whether it is a fruit, a nut, an herb or a flower, it seems that I’m always learning a new way of using something that is already familiar to me. I love that this allows me to expand my knowledge from home. (For this, the internet is truly a blessing!) I get to learn something new and share it with my family. Like using herbs and veggies to decorate foccacia, I never would have thought of that myself! My mind tends towards more rigid ideas of how things should be used, but I think that just might have something to do with how I was raised and the culture we live in.
One thing that I really want to try is making flavored meringue using herbs that I grow. And flowers, too. The idea of using something in a new way is exciting! But, and also, not just for the flavors, but the medicinal benefits and even the color! All natural! And good for you. St Hildegard uses Nutmeg as the flavor highlight in a cookie recipe, and I thought that this was genius because it is also considered a “happy” herb. Who wouldn’t want to eat a cookie that tastes good and is also good for you! I think that is the perfect example of what a cookie should be, hence the herbal flavored meringue.
Quite commonly we see breads that are flavored with herbs or vegetables. Rosemary bread, garlic bread, olive bread. Delicious and thought provoking flavors. That makes me wonder about olives though…do they have a beneficial property to them besides being delicious. Of course, we know that olive oil does, but the actual olive? Something to investigate.
I got side tracked, but the idea of flavoring with herbs goes back centuries. And in Chinese medicine, they excel at using herbs and foods for treating all sorts of things. Wouldn’t it be magical if everything we ate had a beneficial side effect? I think that would be amazing.
