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Most Popular Culinary Herbs in the Kitchen
By admin | April 21, 2006
In the herb garden we had a discussion about what we thought the most popular culinary herbs were. Some guesses included parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme (based on the song, I suppose!). I’ve done some research into the popularity of various herbs and have some findings to report.
According to a recent poll, the herb with the overall highest popularity is LAVENDER. The web site called “today’s local news” on October 21, 2006 had this explanation:
Why? Because of its unique flowers and memorable scent. But dig beneath such obvious charms and you can discover countless other uses for lavender. Its taste adds intrigue to dishes, the flowers enhance fresh and dried floral designs, and the scent relaxes.
Historically, lavender has been used for soaps and bathing. The name lavender comes from the Latin word lavare, meaning to wash. Ancient Roman baths used lavender to scent the water, and today lavender soap is still a best seller.
Legend has it that the plant got its fragrance after Mary hung baby Jesus’ clothes to dry on a lavender bush.
Recently, lavender has experienced a renewed popularity in aromatherapy as a mind and body soother. But, lavender is more than a compelling fragrance.
All parts of the lavender plant are edible. The well-known herb combination, Herbes de Provence, may include lavender. In most recipes calling for lavender, leaves and flowers are interchangeable because they impart the same flavor. Sometimes, a recipe will specify flowers for decoration. When cooking, don’t use too much lavender or the food may taste like soap.
Besides eating and smelling lavender, you can simply enjoy its classic presence in the garden. Fall is the perfect time to add lavender to your garden.
The soil is warm, letting the roots get a start, and lavender will benefit from the winter rains. Lavender is practically pest-free and drought-tolerant, but it does have specific requirements in order to thrive.
My other research has this in terms of popular herbs:
According to responses gathered by a federal survey (conducted by the national center for complementary and alternative medicine), the most popular, or most commonly used, herb supplement is echinacea. Next on the list of most popular, or most commonly used, herbs are the ginseng, gingko biloba, garlic, St. John’s wort, peppermint, and ginger.
The most often listed culinary herbs in people’s top 3 herbs list are Parsley, Dill and Basil.
Getting to our reading of the day, the book Culinary Herbs: Their Cultivation Harvesting Curing and Uses has this to say about the commercial popularity of the various culinary herbs. Keep in mind that these comments are from 1912 or so and tastes have changed!
CULINARY 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[Pg 20] 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.
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.
That is pretty funny about the disagreeableness of the mighty pickle!
Topics: Herb Recipes |