You have planted the herbs and watched them grow and flourish. Now you want to use fresh from your garden. Here are a few tips for preparing fresh herbs.

Fresh herbs definitely give food a better flavor. It is the leaves that are used for flavoring most often. However some herbs are harvested for their seeds. Cilantro, also known as coriander, provides both leaves and seeds.

When you cut fresh herbs on a young herb plant, do not take too much of the plant to start with. If you do it will take longer until the plant is big enough to give you more than you can use. I start off by harvesting the leaves and not the stalks, this way the stalks are encouraged to grow new leaves. Another trick is to “top” the plant. Cut off the leaves at the top of the branch and this will encourage the stem to generate side shoots and far more leaves. As the plant grows bigger I will take not more than one third of the plant at a time. This encourages new growth which is a good gardening thing to do. Once the plant is grown, you will be able to take what you need as often as you need it and the plant will continue to grow in size.

Using herbs from your fresh herb garden is one of the pleasures of growing them in the first place. Take care to clean the herbs before they are placed fresh in recipes. Even if they look clean they may have dust or even little insects on them. The best way to clean them is to place them in a bowl of cold water. If you are concerned about insects, put some salt in the water. This will drive away insects without damaging the plant. Remove the herbs from the water and if you are cooking with them, shake them or pat them inside a kitchen towel and then follow your recipe. Some recipes will tell you to add them whole, others will require them chopped. If you add whole leaves, such as bay leaves, you may need to remove them at the end of the cooking.

If you are going to use them in a salad or as a garnish, then you need to dry them after washing. You can dry them in a salad spinner if you have one. Otherwise, put them in a towel and pat them dry very gently so that you do not bruise the leaves. I put them in a kitchen towel and wrap them so I can get a good grasp on the edges. Then I go into the garden and I become the salad spinner. Swinging them around fast is just a small bonus in your exercise routine and they dry beautifully without being bruised! Check your recipe to see if your herbs need to be chopped before adding them. Timing may be important. Some herbs are added during the cooking process and others are added as the meal is ready or even scattered on top of the food at the table.

One last tip, if you live in an area of cold winters, start a herb plant in a pot so that you can bring it inside in autumn and enjoy fresh herbs longer in the warmer conditions. However if they are annuals, chances are they will die eventually. Look on this site for an article on growing herbs in containers.

Good herbs gardening!