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CULINARY HERBS
Their Cultivation, Harvesting, Curing and Uses
By
M. G. KAINS
_Associate Editor American Agriculturist_
Ah, Zephyrus! art here, and Flora too!
Ye tender bibbers of the rain and dew,
Young playmates of the rose and daffodil,
Be careful, ere ye enter in, to fill
Your baskets high
With fennel green, and balm, and golden pines,
Savory, latter-mint, and columbines,
Cool parsley, basil sweet, and sunny thyme;
Yea, every flower and leaf of every clime,
All gather'd in the dewy morn: hie
Away! fly, fly!
--_Keats, "Endymion"_
[Illustration: Herbs and Children, a Happy Harmony]
NEW YORK
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO., Limited
1912
Copyright, 1912
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY
_All Rights Reserved_
ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL, LONDON, ENGLAND
Printed in U. S. A.
* * * * *
PREFACE
A small boy who wanted to make a good impression once took his little
sweetheart to an ice cream parlor. After he had vainly searched the list
of edibles for something within his means, he whispered to the waiter,
"Say, Mister, what you got that looks tony an' tastes nice for nineteen
cents?"
This is precisely the predicament in which many thousand people are
today. Like the boy, they have skinny purses, voracious appetites and
mighty yearnings to make the best possible impression within their
means. Perhaps having been "invited out," they learn by actual
demonstration that the herbs are culinary magicians which convert cheap
cuts and "scraps" into toothsome dainties. They are thus aroused to the
fact that by using herbs they can afford to play host and hostess to a
larger number of hungry and envious friends than ever before.
Maybe it is mainly due to these yearnings and to the memories of
mother's and grandmother's famous dishes that so many inquiries
concerning the propagation, cultivation, curing and uses of culinary
herbs are asked of authorities on gardening and cookery; and maybe it is
because no one has really loved the herbs enough to publish a book on
the subject. That herbs are easy to grow I can abundantly attest, for I
have grown them all. I can also bear ample witness to the fact that they
reduce the cost of high living, if by that phrase is meant pleasing the
palate without offending the purse.
For instance, a few days ago a friend paid twenty cents for soup beef,
and five cents for "soup greens." The addition of salt, pepper and other
ingredients brought the initial cost up to twenty-nine cents. This made
enough soup for ten or twelve liberal servings. The lean meat removed
from the soup was minced and mixed with not more than ten cents' worth
of diced potatoes, stale bread crumbs, milk, seasoning and herbs before
being baked as a supper dish for five people, who by their bland smiles
and "scotch plates" attested that the viands both looked "tony" and
tasted nice.
I am glad to acknowledge my thanks to Mr. N. R. Graves of Rochester, N.
Y., and Prof. R. L. Watts of the Pennsylvania State Agricultural
College, for the photographic illustrations, and to Mr. B. F.
Williamson, the Orange Judd Co.'s artist, for the pen and ink drawings
which add so much to the value, attractiveness and interest of these
pages.
If this book shall instill or awaken in its readers the wholesome though
"cupboard" love that the culinary herbs deserve both as permanent
residents of the garden and as masters of the kitchen, it will have
accomplished the object for which it was written.
M. G. KAINS.
New York, 1912.
CONTENTS
Page
Preface v
A Dinner of Herbs 7
Culinary Herbs Defined 11
History 12
Production of New Varieties 15
Status and Uses 19
Notable Instance of Uses 21
Methods of Curing 22
Drying and Storing 25
Herbs as Garnishes 30
Propagation, Seeds 32
Cuttings 34
Layers 36
Division 37
Transplanting 39
Implements 41
Location of Herb Garden 44
The Soil and Its Preparation 45
Cultivation 47
Double Cropping 48
Herb Relationships 49
The Herb List:
Angelica 55
Anise 59
Balm 63
Basil 65
Borage 71
Caraway 73
Catnip 77
Chervil 79
Chives 80
Clary 81
Coriander 82
Cumin 84
Dill 87
Fennel 89
Finocchio 93
Fennel Flower 94
Hoarhound 95
Hyssop 96
Lavender 97
Lovage 99
Marigold 100
Marjoram 101
Mint 105
Parsley 109
Pennyroyal 119
Peppermint 119
Rosemary 120
Rue 122
Sage 125
Samphire 129
Savory, Summer 131
Savory, Winter 132
Southernwood 133
Tansy 134
Tarragon 134
Thyme 137
ILLUSTRATIONS
Page
Herbs and Children, a Happy Harmony _Frontispiece_
Spading Fork 1
Barrel Culture of Herbs 2
Transplanting Board and Dibble 5
Assortment of Favorite Weeders 8
Popular Adjustable Row Marker 10
Popular Spades 13
Lath Screen for Shading Beds 16
Harvesting Thyme Grown on a Commercial Scale 18
Garden Hoes of Various Styles 20
Dried Herbs in Paper and Tin 22
Herb Solution Bottle 24
Paper Sacks of Dried Herbs for Home Use 26
Hand Cultivator and Scarifier 27
Flat of Seedlings Ready to Be Transplanted 32
Glass Covered Propagating Box 34
Flower Pot Propagating Bed 35
Holt's Mammoth and Common Sage 38
Marker for Hotbeds and Cold Frames 39
Leading Forms of Trowels 40
Wooden Dibbles 43
Combination Hand Plow 45
Surface Paring Cultivator 47
Thinning Scheme for Harvesting 48
Center Row Hand Cultivator 50
Hand Plow 52
Prophecy of Many Toothsome Dishes 56
Anise in Flower and in Fruit 60
Sweet Basil 66
Borage, Famous for "Cool Tankard" 70
Caraway for Comfits and Birthday Cakes 74
Catnip, Pussy's Delight 78
Coriander, for Old-Fashioned Candies 82
Dill, of Pickle Fame 86
Sweet Fennel 90
Sweet Marjoram 102
Mint, Best Friend of Roast Lamb 106
Curled Parsley 110
Rue, Sour Herb of Grace 124
Sage, The Leading Herb for Duck and Goose Dressing 126
Holt's Mammoth and Common Sage Leaves 129
Dainty Summer Savory 130
Tarragon, French Chef's Delight 135
Thyme for Sausage 137
CULINARY HERBS
In these days of jaded appetites, condiments and canned goods, how
fondly we turn from the dreary monotony of the "dainty" menu to the
memory of the satisfying dishes of our mothers! What made us, like
Oliver Twist, ask for more? Were those flavors real, or was it
association and natural, youthful hunger that enticed us? Can we ever
forget them; or, what is more practical, can we again realize them? We
may find the secret and the answer in mother's garden. Let's peep in.
The garden, as in memory we view it, is not remarkable except for its
neatness and perhaps the mixing of flowers, fruits and vegetables as we
never see them jumbled on the table. Strawberries and onions, carrots
and currants, potatoes and poppies, apples and sweet corn and many other
as strange comrades, all grow together in mother's garden in the utmost
harmony.
[Illustration: Spading Fork]
All these are familiar friends; but what are those plants near the
kitchen? They are "mother's sweet herbs." We have never seen them on the
table. They never played leading roles such as those of the cabbage and
the potato. They are merely members of "the cast" which performed the
small but important parts in the production of the pleasing _tout
ensemble_--soup, stew, sauce, or salad--the remembrance of which, like
that of a well-staged and well-acted drama, lingers in the memory long
after the actors are forgotten.
[Illustration: Barrel Culture of Herbs]
Probably no culinary plants have during the last 50 years been so
neglected. Especially during the "ready-to-serve" food campaign of the
closed quarter century did they suffer most. But they are again coming
into their own. Few plants are so easily cultivated and prepared for
use. With the exception of the onion, none may be so effectively
employed and none may so completely transform the "left-over" as to
tempt an otherwise balky appetite to indulge in a second serving without
being urged to perform the homely duty of "eating it to save it."
Indeed, sweet herbs are, or should be the boon of the housewife, since
they make for both pleasure and economy. The soup may be made of the
most wholesome, nutritious and even costly materials; the fish may be
boiled or baked to perfection; the joint or the roast and the salad may
be otherwise faultless, but if they lack flavor they will surely fail
in their mission, and none of the neighbors will plot to steal the cook,
as they otherwise might did she merit the reputation that she otherwise
might, by using culinary herbs.
This doleful condition may be prevented and the cook enjoy an enviable
esteem by the judicious use of herbs, singly or in combination. It is
greatly to be regretted that the uses of these humble plants, which seem
to fall lower than the dignity of the title "vegetable," should be so
little understood by intelligent American housewives.
In the flavoring of prepared dishes we Americans--people, as the French
say, "of one sauce"--might well learn a lesson from the example of the
English matron who usually considers her kitchen incomplete without a
dozen or more sweet herbs, either powdered, or in decoction, or
preserved in both ways. A glance into a French or a German culinary
department would probably show more than a score; but a careful search
in an American kitchen would rarely reveal as many as half a dozen, and
in the great majority probably only parsley and sage would be brought to
light. Yet these humble plants possess the power of rendering even
unpalatable and insipid dishes piquant and appetizing, and this, too, at
a surprisingly low cost. Indeed, most of them may be grown in an
out-of-the-way corner of the garden, or if no garden be available, in a
box of soil upon a sunny windowsill--a method adopted by many foreigners
living in tenement houses in New York and Jersey City. Certainly they
may be made to add to the pleasure of living and, as Solomon declares,
"better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox with
contention."
It is to be regretted that the moving picture show and the soda water
fountain have such an influence in breaking up old-fashioned family
evenings at home when everyone gathered around the evening lamp to enjoy
homemade dainties. In those good old days the young man was expected to
become acquainted with the young woman in the home. The girl took pride
in serving solid and liquid culinary goodies of her own construction.
Her mother, her all-sufficient guide, mapped out the sure, safe, and
orthodox highway to a man's heart and saw to it that she learned how to
play her cards with skill and precision. Those were the days when a
larger proportion "lived happy ever after" than in modern times, when
recreation and refreshment are sought more frequently outside than
inside the walls of home.
But it is not too late to learn the good old ways over again and enjoy
the good old culinary dainties. Whoever relishes the summer cups that
cheer but do not inebriate may add considerably to his enjoyment by
using some of the sweet herbs. Spearmint adds to lemonade the pleasing
pungency it as readily imparts to a less harmful but more notorious
beverage. The blue or pink flowers of borage have long been famous for
the same purpose, though they are perhaps oftener added to a mixture of
honey and water, to grape juice, raspberry vinegar or strawberry acid.
All that is needed is an awakened desire to re-establish home comforts
and customs, then a little later experimentation will soon fix the herb
habit.
[Illustration: Transplanting Board and Dibble]
The list of home confections may be very pleasingly extended by candying
the aromatic roots of lovage, and thus raising up a rival to the candied
ginger said to be imported from the Orient. If anyone likes coriander
and caraway--I confess that I don't--he can sugar the seeds to make
those little "comfits," the candies of our childhood which our mothers
tried to make us think we liked to crunch either separately or sprinkled
on our birthday cakes. Those were before the days when somebody's name
was "stamped on every piece" to aid digestion. Can we ever forget the
picnic when we had certain kinds of sandwiches? Our mothers minced sweet
fennel, the tender leaves of sage, marjoram or several other herbs,
mixed them with cream cheese, and spread a layer between two thin slices
of bread. Perhaps it was the swimming, or the three-legged racing, or
the swinging, or all put together, that put a razor edge on our
appetites and made us relish those sandwiches more than was perhaps
polite; but will we not, all of us who ate them, stand ready to dispute
with all comers that it was the flavors that made us forget "our
manners"?
But sweet herbs may be made to serve another pleasing, an æsthetic
purpose. Many of them may be used for ornament. A bouquet of the pale
pink blossoms of thyme and the delicate flowers of marjoram, the
fragrant sprigs of lemon balm mixed with the bright yellow umbels of
sweet fennel, the finely divided leaves of rue and the long glassy ones
of bergamot, is not only novel in appearance but in odor. In sweetness
it excels even sweet peas and roses. Mixed with the brilliant red
berries of barberry and multiflora rose, and the dark-green branches of
the hardy thyme, which continues fresh and sweet through the year, a
handsome and lasting bouquet may be made for a midwinter table
decoration, a fragrant reminder of Shakespeare's lines in "A Winter's
Tale":
"Here's flowers for you;
Hot lavender, mints, savory, marjoram;
The marigold, that goes to bed wi' the sun
And with him rises weeping."
The rare aroma of sweet marjoram reminds so many city people of their
mother's and their grandmother's country gardens, that countless muslin
bags of the dried leaves sent to town ostensibly for stuffing poultry
never reach the kitchen at all, but are accorded more honored places in
the living room. They are placed in the sunlight of a bay window where
Old Sol may coax forth their prisoned odors and perfume the air with
memories of childhood summers on the farm.
Other memories cling to the delicate little lavender, not so much
because the owner of a well-filled linen closet perfumed her spotless
hoard with its fragrant flowers, but because of more tender
remembrances. Would any country wedding chest be complete without its
little silk bags filled with dried lavender buds and blooms to add the
finishing touch of romance to the dainty trousseau of linen and lace?
What can recall the bridal year so surely as this same kindly lavender?
A DINNER OF HERBS
In an article published in _American Agriculturist_, Dora M. Morrell
says: "There is an inference that a dinner of herbs is rather a poor
thing, one not to be chosen as a pleasure. Perhaps it might be if it
came daily, but, for once in a while, try this which I am going to tell
you.
"To prepare a dinner of herbs in its best estate you should have a bed
of seasonings such as our grandmothers had in their gardens, rows of
sage, of spicy mint, sweet marjoram, summer savory, fragrant thyme,
tarragon, chives and parsley. To these we may add, if we take herbs in
the Scriptural sense, nasturtium, and that toothsome esculent, the
onion, as well as lettuce. If you wish a dinner of herbs and have not
the fresh, the dried will serve, but parsley and mint you can get at
most times in the markets, or in country gardens, where they often grow
wild.
"Do you know, my sister housewife, that if you were to have a barrel
sawed in half, filled with good soil, some holes made in the side and
then placed the prepared half barrel in the sun, you could have an herb
garden of your own the year through, even if you live in a city flat? In
the holes at the sides you can plant parsley, and it will grow to cover
the barrel, so that you have a bank of green to look upon. On the top of
the half barrel plant your mint, sage, thyme and tarragon. Thyme is so
pleasing a plant in appearance and fragrance that you may acceptably
give it a place among those you have in your window for ornament.
[Illustration: Assortment of Favorite Weeders]
"The Belgians make a parsley soup that might begin your dinner, or
rather your luncheon. For the soup, thicken flour and butter together as
for drawn butter sauce, and when properly cooked thin to soup
consistency with milk. Flavor with onion juice, salt and pepper. Just
before serving add enough parsley cut in tiny bits to color the soup
green. Serve croutons with this.
"For the next course choose an omelette with fine herbs. Any cookbook
will give the directions for making the omelette, and all that will be
necessary more than the book directs is to have added to it minced
thyme, tarragon and chives before folding, or they may be stirred into
the omelette before cooking.
"Instead of an omelette you may have eggs stuffed with fine herbs and
served in cream sauce. Cut hard-boiled eggs in half the long way and
remove the yolks. Mash and season these, adding the herbs, as finely
minced as possible. Shape again like yolks and return to the whites.
Cover with a hot cream sauce and serve before it cools. Both of these
dishes may be garnished with shredded parsley over the top.
"With this serve a dish of potatoes scalloped with onion. Prepare by
placing in alternate layers the two vegetables; season well with salt,
pepper and butter, and then add milk even with the top layer. This dish
is quite hearty and makes a good supper dish of itself.
"Of course you will not have a meal of this kind without salad. For this
try a mixture of nasturtium leaves and blossoms, tarragon, chives, mint,
thyme and the small leaves of the lettuce, adding any other green leaves
of the spicy kind which you find to taste good. Then dress these with a
simple oil and vinegar dressing, omitting sugar, mustard or any such
flavoring, for there is spice enough in the leaves themselves.
"Pass with these, if you will, sandwiches made with lettuce or
nasturtium dressed with mayonnaise. You may make quite a different thing
of them by adding minced chives or tarragon, or thyme, to the
mayonnaise. The French are very partial to this manner of compounding
new sauces from the base of the old one. After you do it a few times you
also will find it worth while.
[Illustration: Popular Adjustable Row Marker]
"When it comes to a dessert I am afraid you will have to go outside of
herbs. You can take a cream cheese and work into it with a silver knife
any of these herbs, or any two of them that agree with it well, and
serve it with toasted crackers, or you can toast your crackers with
common cheese, grating above it sage and thyme."
Whether this "dinner of herbs" appeals to the reader or not, I venture
to say that no housewife who has ever stuffed a Thanksgiving turkey, a
Christmas goose or ducks or chickens with home-grown, home-prepared
herbs, either fresh or dried, will ever after be willing to buy the
paper packages or tin cans of semi-inodorous, prehistoric dust which
masquerades equally well as "fresh" sage, summer savory, thyme or
something else, the only apparent difference being the label.
To learn to value herbs at their true worth one should grow them. Then
every visitor to the garden will be reminded of some quotation from the
Bible, or Shakespeare or some other repository of interesting thoughts;
for since herbs have been loved as long as the race has lived on the
earth, literature is full of references to facts and fancies concerning
them. Thus the herb garden will become the nucleus around which cluster
hoary legends, gems of verse and lilts of song, and where one almost
stoops to remove his shoes, for
"The wisdom of the ages
Blooms anew among the sages."
CULINARY HERBS DEFINED
It may be said that sweet or culinary herbs are those annual, biennial
or perennial plants whose green parts, tender roots or ripe seeds have
an aromatic flavor and fragrance, due either to a volatile oil or to
other chemically named substances peculiar to the individual species.
Since many of them have pleasing odors they have been called sweet, and
since they have been long used in cookery to add their characteristic
flavors to soups, stews, dressings, sauces and salads, they are
popularly called culinary. This last designation is less happy than the
former, since many other herbs, such as cabbage, spinach, kale,
dandelion and collards, are also culinary herbs. These vegetables are,
however, probably more widely known as potherbs or greens.
HISTORY
It seems probable that many of the flavoring herbs now in use were
similarly employed before the erection of the pyramids and also that
many then popular no longer appear in modern lists of esculents. Of
course, this statement is based largely upon imperfect records, perhaps,
in many cases only hints more or less doubtful as to the various
species. But it seems safe to conclude that a goodly number of the herbs
discussed in this volume, especially those said to be natives of the
Mediterranean region, overhung and perfumed the cradle of the human race
in the Orient and marked the footsteps of our rude progenitors as they
strode more and more sturdily toward the horizon of promise. This idea
seems to gain support also from the fact that certain Eastern peoples,
whom modern civilization declares to have uneducated tastes, still
employ many herbs which have dropped by the wayside of progress, or like
the caraway and the redoubtable "pusley," an anciently popular potherb,
are but known in western lands as troublesome weeds.
Relying upon Biblical records alone, several herbs were highly esteemed
prior to our era; in the gospels of Matthew and Luke reference is made
to tithes of mint, anise, rue, cummin and other "herbs"; and, more than
700 years previously, Isaiah speaks of the sowing and threshing of
cummin which, since the same passage (Isaiah xxviii, 25) also speaks of
"fitches" (vetches), wheat, barley and "rie" (rye), seems then to have
been a valued crop.
[Illustration: Popular Spades]
The development of the herb crops contrasts strongly with that of the
other crops to which reference has just been made. Whereas these latter
have continued to be staples, and to judge by their behavior during the
last century may be considered to have improved in quality and yield
since that ancient time, the former have dropped to the most subordinate
position of all food plants. They have lost in number of species, and
have shown less improvement than perhaps any other groups of plants
cultivated for economic purposes. During the century just closed only
one species, parsley, may be said to have developed more than an
occasional improved variety. And even during this period the list of
species seems to have been somewhat curtailed--tansy, hyssop, horehound,
rue and several others being considered of too pronounced and even
unpleasant flavor to suit cultivated palates.
With the exception of these few species, the loss of which seems not to
be serious, this absence of improvement is to be regretted, because with
improved quality would come increased consumption and consequent
beneficial results in the appetizing flavor of the foods to which herbs
are added. But greatly improved varieties of most species can hardly be
expected until a just appreciation has been awakened in individual
cultivators, who, probably in a majority of cases, will be lovers of
plants rather than men who earn their living by market gardening.
Until the public better appreciates the culinary herbs there will be a
comparatively small commercial demand; until the demand is sufficient to
make growing herbs profitable upon an extensive scale, market gardeners
will devote their land to crops which are sure to pay well; hence the
opportunity to grow herbs as an adjunct to gardening is the most likely
way that they can be made profitable. And yet there is still another;
namely, growing them for sale in the various prepared forms and selling
them in glass or tin receptacles in the neighborhood or by advertising
in the household magazines. There surely is a market, and a profitable
one if rightly managed. And with right management and profit is to come
desire to have improved varieties. Such varieties can be developed at
least as readily as the wonderful modern chrysanthemum has been
developed from an insignificant little wild flower not half as
interesting or promising originally as our common oxeye daisy, a
well-known field weed.
Not the least object of this volume is, therefore, to arouse just
appreciation of the opportunities awaiting the herb grower. Besides the
very large and increasing number of people who take pleasure in the
growing of attractive flowering and foliage plants, fine vegetables and
choice fruits, there are many who would find positive delight in the
breeding of plants for improvement--the origination of new
varieties--and who would devote much of their leisure time to this
work--make it a hobby--did they know the simple underlying principles.
For their benefit, therefore, the following paragraphs are given.
PRODUCTION OF NEW VARIETIES
Besides the gratification that always accompanies the growing of plants,
there is in plant breeding the promise that the progeny will in some way
be better than the parent, and there is the certainty that when a stable
variety of undoubted merit has been produced it can be sold to an
enterprising seedsman for general distribution. In this way the amateur
may become a public benefactor, reap the just reward of his labors and
keep his memory green!
The production of new varieties of plants is a much simpler process than
is commonly supposed. It consists far more in selecting and propagating
the best specimens than in any so-called "breeding." With the majority
of the herbs this is the most likely direction in which to seek success.
Suppose we have sown a packet of parsley seed and we have five thousand
seedlings. Among these a lot will be so weak that we will naturally
pass them by when we are choosing plantlets to put in our garden beds.
Here is the first and simplest kind of selection. By this means, and by
not having space for a great number of plants in the garden, we probably
get rid of 80 per cent of the seedlings--almost surely the least
desirable ones.
[Illustration: Lath Screen for Shading Beds]
Suppose we have transplanted 1,000 seedlings where they are to grow and
produce leaves for sale or home use. Among these, provided the seed has
been good and true, at least 90 per cent will be about alike in
appearance, productivity and otherwise. The remaining plants may show
variations so striking as to attract attention. Some may be tall and
scraggly, some may be small and puny; others may be light green, still
others dark green; and so on. But there may be one or two plants that
stand out conspicuously as the best of the whole lot. These are the ones
to mark with a stake so they will not be molested when the crop is being
gathered and so they will attain their fullest development.
These best plants, and only these, should then be chosen as the seed
bearers. No others should be allowed even to produce flowers. When the
seed has ripened, that from each plant should be kept separate during
the curing process described elsewhere. And when spring comes again,
each lot of seed should be sown by itself. When the seedlings are
transplanted, they should be kept apart and labeled No. 1, No. 2, No. 3,
etc., so the progeny of each parent plant can be known and its history
kept.
The process of selecting the seedlings the second year is the same as in
the first; the best are given preference, when being transplanted. In
the beds all sorts of variations even more pronounced than the first
year may be expected. The effort with the seedlings derived from each
parent plant should be to find the plants that most closely resemble
their own parents, and to manage these just as the parents were managed.
No other should be allowed to flower.
This process is to be continued from year to year. If the selection is
carefully made, the grower will soon rejoice, because he will observe a
larger and a larger number of plants approaching the type of plant he
has been selecting for. In time practically the whole plantation will be
coming "true to type," and he will have developed a new variety. If his
ideal is such as to appeal to the practical man--the man who grows
parsley for money--and if the variety is superior to varieties already
grown, the originator will have no difficulty in disposing of his stock
of seed and plants, if he so desires, to a seedsman, who will gladly pay
a round price in order to have exclusive control of the "new creation."
Or he may contract with a seedsman to grow seed of the new variety for
sale to the trade.
[Illustration: Harvesting Thyme Grown on a Commercial Scale]
It may be said, further, that new varieties may be produced by placing
the pollen from the flowers of one plant upon the pistils in the
flowers of another and then covering the plant with fine gauze to keep
insects out. With the herbs, however, this method seems hardly worth
while, because the flowers are as a rule very small and the work
necessarily finicky, and because there are already so few varieties of
most species that the operation may be left to the activities of
insects. It is for this reason, however, that none but the choicest
plants should be allowed to bloom, so none but desirable pollen may
reach and fertilize the flowers of the plants to be used as seed
producers.
STATUS AND USES
Some readers of a statistical turn of mind may be disappointed to learn
that figures as to the value of the annual crops of individual herbs,
the acreage devoted to each, the average cost, yield and profit an acre,
etc., are not obtainable and that the only way of determining the
approximate standing of the various species is the apparent demand for
each in the large markets and stores.
Unquestionably the greatest call is for parsley, which is used in
restaurants and hotels more extensively as a garnish than any other
herb. In this capacity it ranks about equal with watercress and lettuce,
which both find their chief uses as salads. As a flavoring agent it is
probably less used than sage, but more than any of the other herbs. It
is chiefly employed in dressings with mild meats such as chicken,
turkey, venison, veal, with baked fish; and for soups, stews, and
sauces, especially those used with boiled meats, fish and fricassees of
the meats mentioned. Thus it has a wider application than any other of
the culinary herbs.
Sage, which is a strongly flavored plant, is used chiefly with such fat
meats as pork, goose, duck, and various kinds of game. Large quantities
are mixed with sausage meat and, in some countries, with certain kinds
of cheese. Throughout the United States it is probably the most
frequently called into requisition of all herbs, probably outranking any
two of the others, with the exception of parsley.
[Illustration: Garden Hoes of Various Styles]
Thyme and savory stand about equal, and are chiefly used like parsley,
though both, especially the former, are used in certain kinds of
sausage. Marjoram, which is similarly employed, comes next, then follow
balm, fennel, and basil. These milder herbs are often mixed for much the
same reason that certain simple perfumes are blended--to produce a new
odor--combinations of herbs resulting in a new compound flavor. Such
compounds are utilized in the same way that the elementary herbs are.
In classes by themselves are tarragon and spearmint, the former of which
is chiefly used as a decoction in the flavoring of fish sauces, and the
latter as the universal dressing with spring lamb. Mint has also a more
convivial use, but this seems more the province of the W. C. T. U. than
of this book to discuss.
Dill is probably the most important of the herbs whose seeds, rather
than their leaves, are used in flavoring food other than confectionery.
It plays its chief role in the pickle barrel. Immense quantities of
cucumber pickles flavored principally with dill are used in the
restaurants of the larger cities and also by families, the foreign-born
citizens and their descendants being the chief consumers. The demand for
these pickles is met by the leading pickle manufacturers who prepare
special brands, generally according to German recipes, and sell them to
the delicatessen and the grocery stores. If they were to rely upon me
for business, they would soon go bankrupt. To my palate the dill pickle
appeals as almost the acme of disagreeableness.
NOTABLE INSTANCE OF USES
The flavors of the various herbs cover a wide range, commencing with
fennel and ending with sage, and are capable of wide application. In one
case which came under my observation, the cook made a celery-flavored
stew of some meat scraps. Not being wholly consumed, the surviving
debris appeared a day or two later, in company with other odds and
ends, as the chief actor in a meat pie flavored with parsley. Alas, a
left-over again! "Never mind," mused the cook; and no one who partook of
the succeeding stew discovered the lurking parsley and its overpowered
progenitor, the celery, under the effectual disguise of summer savory.
By an unforeseen circumstance the fragments remaining from this last
stew did not continue the cycle and disappear in another pie. Had this
been their fate, however, their presence could have been completely
obscured by sage. This problem in perpetual progression or culinary
homeopathy can be practiced in any kitchen. But hush, tell it not in the
dining-room!
[Illustration: Dried Herbs in Paper and Tin]
METHODS OF CURING
Culinary herbs may be divided into three groups; those whose foliage
furnishes the flavor, those whose seed is used and those few whose
roots are prepared. In the kitchen, foliage herbs are employed either
green or as decoctions or dried, each way with its special advocates,
advantages and applications.
Green herbs, if freshly and properly gathered, are richest in flavoring
substances and when added to sauces, fricassees, stews, etc., reveal
their freshness by their particles as well as by their decidedly finer
flavor. In salads they almost entirely supplant both the dried and the
decocted herbs, since their fresh colors are pleasing to the eye and
their crispness to the palate; whereas the specks of the dried herbs
would be objectionable, and both these and the decoctions impart a
somewhat inferior flavor to such dishes. Since herbs cannot, however,
always be obtained throughout the year, unless they are grown in window
boxes, they are infused or dried. Both infusing and drying are similar
processes in themselves, but for best results they are dependent upon
the observance of a few simple rules.
No matter in what condition or for what purpose they are to be used the
flavors of foliage herbs are invariably best in well-developed leaves
and shoots still in full vigor of growth. With respect to the plant as a
whole, these flavors are most abundant and pleasant just before the
flowers appear. And since they are generally due to essential oils,
which are quickly dissipated by heat, they are more abundant in the
morning than after the sun has reached the zenith. As a general rule,
therefore, best results with foliage herbs, especially those to be used
for drying and infusing, may be secured when the plants seem ready to
flower, the harvest being made as soon as the dew has dried and before
the day has become very warm. The leaves of parsley, however, may be
gathered as soon as they attain that deep green characteristic of the
mature leaf; and since the leaves are produced continuously for many
weeks, the mature ones may be removed every week or so, a process which
encourages the further production of foliage and postpones the
appearance of the flowering stem.
To make good infusions the freshly gathered, clean foliage should be
liberally packed in stoppered jars, covered with the choicest vinegar,
and the jars kept closed. In a week or two the fluid will be ready for
use, but in using it, trials must be made to ascertain its strength and
the quantity necessary to use. Usually only the clear liquid is
employed; sometimes, however, as with mint, the leaves are very finely
minced before being bottled and both liquid and particles employed.
[Illustration: Herb Solution Bottle]
Tarragon, mint and the seed herbs, such as dill, are perhaps more often
used in ordinary cookery as infusions than otherwise. An objection to
decoctions is that the flavor of vinegar is not always desired in a
culinary preparation, and neither is that of alcohol or wine, which are
sometimes used in the same way as vinegar.
DRYING AND STORING
When only a small quantity of an herb is to be dried, the old plan of
hanging loose bunches from the ceiling of a warm, dry attic or a kitchen
will answer. Better, perhaps, is the use of trays covered with clean,
stout manilla paper upon which thin layers of the leaves are spread.
These are placed either in hot sunlight or in the warm kitchen where
warm air circulates freely. They must be turned once a day until all the
moisture has been evaporated from the leaves and the softer, more
delicate parts have become crisp. Then they may be crunched and crumbled
between the hands, the stalks and the hard parts rejected and the powder
placed in air-tight glass or earthenware jars or metal cans, and stored
in a cool place. If there be the slightest trace of moisture in the
powder, it should be still further dried to insure against mold. Prior
to any drying process the cut leaves and stems should be thoroughly
washed, to get rid of any trace of dirt. Before being dried as noted
above, the water should all be allowed to evaporate. Evaporation may be
hastened by exposing the herbs to a breeze in a shallow, loose basket, a
wire tray or upon a table. While damp there is little danger of their
being blown away. As they dry, however, the current of air should be
more gentle.
The practice of storing powdered herbs in paper or pasteboard packages
is bad, since the delicate oils readily diffuse through the paper and
sooner or later the material becomes as valueless for flavoring
purposes as ordinary hay or straw. This loss of flavor is particularly
noticeable with sage, which is one of the easiest herbs to spoil by bad
management. Even when kept in air-tight glass or tin receptacles, as
recommended, it generally becomes useless before the end of two years.
[Illustration: Paper Sacks of Dried Herbs for Home Use]
When large quantities of herbs are to be cured a fruit evaporator may be
employed, the herbs being spread thinly upon wire-bottomed trays so that
an ample current of air may pass through them. Care must be taken to
keep the temperature inside the machine below 120 degrees. The greatest
efficiency can be secured by placing the trays of most recently gathered
herbs at the top, the partially dried ones being lowered to positions
nearer the source of heat. In this way the fresh, dry, warm air comes in
contact first with the herbs most nearly dried, removes the last
vestige of moisture from them and after passing through the intervening
trays comes to those most recently gathered.
[Illustration: Hand Cultivator and Scarifier]
Unless the evaporator be fitted with some mechanism which will permit
all the trays to be lowered simultaneously, the work of changing the
trays may seem too irksome to be warranted. But where no changes of
trays are made, greater care must be given to the bottom trays because
they will dry out faster than those at the top. Indeed in such cases,
after the apparatus is full, it becomes almost essential to move the
trays lower, because if fresh green herbs, particularly those which are
somewhat wet, be placed at the bottom of the series, the air will become
so charged with moisture from them that the upper layers may for a time
actually absorb this moisture and thus take longer to dry. Besides this,
they will surely lose some of their flavoring ingredients--the very
things which it is desired to save.
No effort should be made to hasten the drying process by increasing the
temperature, since this is likely to result as just mentioned. A
personal experience may teach the reader a lesson. I once had a large
amount of parsley to cure and thought to expedite matters by using the
oven of a gas stove. Suffice it to tell that the whole quantity was
ruined, not a pinch was saved. In spite of the closest regulation the
heat grew too great and the flavor was literally cooked out of the
leaves. The delicate oil saturated everything in the house, and for a
week or more the whole place smelled as if chicken fricassee was being
made upon a wholesale plan.
Except as garnishes, herbs are probably more frequently used in a dry
state than in all other ways put together. Perhaps this is because the
method of preparing them seems simpler than that of infusion, because
large quantities may be kept in small spaces, and because they can be
used for every purpose that the fresh plants or the decoctions can be
employed. In general, however, they are called into requisition
principally in dressings, soups, stews and sauces in which their
particles are not considered objectionable. If clear sauces or soups are
desired, the dried herbs may still be used to impart the flavor, their
particles being removed by straining.
The method of preparing dill, anise, caraway and other herbs whose seed
is used, differs from that employed with the foliage herbs mainly in the
ripeness of the plants. These must be gathered as soon as they show
signs of maturity but before the seeds are ready to drop from them. In
all this work especial care must be paid to the details of cleaning. For
a pleasing appearance the seed heads must be gathered before they become
the least bit weather-beaten. This is as essential as to have the seed
ripe. Next, the seed must be perfectly clean, free from chaff, bits of
broken stems and other debris. Much depends upon the manner of handling
as well as upon harvesting. Care must be taken in threshing to avoid
bruising the seeds, particularly the oily ones, by pounding too hard or
by tramping upon them. Threshing should never be done in damp weather;
always when the air is very dry.
In clear weather after the dew has disappeared the approximately ripe
plants or seed heads must be harvested and spread thinly--never packed
firmly--upon stout cloth such as ticking, sailcloth, or factory cotton.
A warm, open shed where the air circulates freely is an admirable place,
since the natural temperature of the air is sufficient in the case of
seeds to bring about good results. Usually in less than a week the tops
will have become dry enough to be beaten out with a light flail or a
rod. In this operation great care must be taken to avoid bruising or
otherwise injuring the seed. The beating should therefore be done in a
sheet spread upon a lawn or at least upon short grass. The force of the
blows will thus be lessened and bruising avoided.
For cleaning herb seeds sieves in all sizes from No. 2 to No. 40 are
needed. The sizes represent various finenesses of mesh. All above No. 8
should be of brass wire, because brass is considerably more durable and
less likely to rust than iron. The cloths upon which the herbs are
spread should be as large as the floor upon which the threshing is to be
done except when the floor is without cracks, but it is more convenient
to use cloths always, because they facilitate handling and temporary
storing. Light cotton duck is perhaps best, but the weave must be close.
A convenient size is 10 x 10 feet.
After the stalks have been removed the seed should be allowed to remain
for several days longer in a very thin layer--the thinner the
better--and turned every day to remove the last vestige of moisture. It
will be even better still to have the drying sheet suspended so air may
circulate below as well as above the seed. Not less than a week for the
smallest seeds and double that time for the larger ones is necessary. To
avoid loss or injury it is imperative that the seed be dry before it is
put in the storage packages. Of course, if infusions are to be made all
this is unnecessary; the seed may be put in the liquor as soon as the
broken stems, etc. are removed subsequent to threshing.
HERBS AS GARNISHES
As garnishes several of the culinary herbs are especially valuable. This
is particularly true of parsley, which is probably more widely used than
any other plant, its only close rivals being watercress and lettuce,
which, however, are generally inferior to it in delicacy of tint and
form of foliage, the two cardinal virtues of a garnish.
Parsley varieties belong to three principal groups, based upon the form
of the foliage: (1) Plain varieties, in which the leaves are nearly as
they are in nature; (2) moss-curled varieties in which they are
curiously and pleasingly contorted; and (3) fern leaved, in which the
foliage is not curled, but much divided into threadlike parts.
The moss-curled varieties are far more popular than the other two groups
put together and are the only ones used especially as garnishes with
meat dishes in the hotels and restaurants of the large cities. The
plain-leaved sorts cannot be compared in any way except in flavor with
the varieties of the other groups. But the fern-leaved kinds, which
unfortunately have not become commercially well known, surpass even the
finest varieties of the moss-curled group, not only in their exquisite
and delicate form, but in their remarkably rich, dark-green coloring and
blending of light and shade. But the mere fact that these varieties are
not known in the cities should not preclude their popularity in suburban
and town gardens and in the country, where every householder is monarch
of his own soil and can satisfy very many æsthetic and gustatory desires
without reference to market dictum, that bane alike of the market
gardener and his customer.
Several other herbs--tansy, savory, thyme, marjoram, basil, and
balm--make pretty garnishes, but since they are not usually considered
so pleasant to nibble at, they are rarely used. The pleasing effect of
any garnish may be heightened by adding here and there a few herb
flowers such as thyme or savory. Other flowers may be used in the same
way; for instance, nasturtium.
There is no reason why herbs so used should not be employed several
times over, and afterwards dried or bottled in vinegar if they be free
from gravy, oils, fats, etc., and if in sufficient quantity to make such
a use worth while. Other pretty garnishes which are easily obtained are
corn salad, peppergrass, mustard, fennel, and young leaves of carrot.
But surpassing all these in pleasing and novel effects are the curled,
pink, red and white-leaved varieties of chicory and nasturtium flowers
alone or resting upon parsley or other delicate foliage. So much by way
of digression.
PROPAGATION
SEEDS
[Illustration: Flat of Seedlings Ready to Be Transplanted]
Most herbs may be readily propagated by means of seeds. Some, however,
such as tarragon, which does not produce seed, and several other
perennial kinds, are propagated by division, layers, or cuttings. In
general, propagation by means of seed is considered most satisfactory.
Since the seeds in many instances are small or are slow to germinate,
they are usually sown in shallow boxes or seed pans. When the seedlings
are large enough to be handled they are transplanted to small pots or
somewhat deeper flats or boxes, a couple of inches being allowed between
the plants. When conditions are favorable in the garden; that is, when
the soil is moist and warm and the season has become settled, the
plantlets may be removed to permanent quarters.
If the seed be sown out of doors, it is a good practice to sow a few
radish seeds in the same row with the herb seeds, particularly if these
latter take a long time to germinate or are very small, as marjoram,
savory and thyme. The variety of radish chosen should be a turnip-rooted
sort of exceedingly rapid growth, and with few and small leaves. The
radishes serve to mark the rows and thus enable cultivation to commence
much earlier than if the herbs were sown alone. They should be pulled
early--the earlier the better after the herb plantlets appear. Never
should the radishes be allowed to crowd the herbs.