Mens Health Blog. Medical Blog

Pick healthy fresh leaves, or flowers when they are just open, after the morning dew has evaporated and they are quite dry. Spread these carefully in a thin layer on your screens, turn them every few days until they are crisp and crackly. Then rub the leaves from the stalks, bottle them in glass screw-topped jars (never in plastic or brown paper bags), and seal tightly. Write the date and the name somewhere on each jar, and if you haven’t used up the herbs in twelve months’ time, tip them out onto the compost heap or around your herb plants. Dried herbs have a limited shelf life under these conditions, so give the compost heap the benefit of their natural material, and put up another batch for yourself.

If moisture is visible several days after bottling, tip the leaves out for further drying. I always like to let the weather work for me here, and quickly rush out and harvest when we have those hot, drying winds that last for three or four days. In such conditions you can bottle the herbs with confidence in five or six days, sometimes less. Never attempt to dry herbs in humid weather—the results will always be poor and the drying time so long that most of the goodness will be gone.

The roots of some herbs are also dried, like horseradish, comfrey, valerian and dandelion. These need different treatment. Dig the roots at the time recommended in the chapters on individual herbs. Wash and scrub them and cut off any fibrous or hair roots. Then cut the root lengthwise in slivers about inch wide, and these can be dried either on the screens (this takes much longer) or in a warm oven with the door slightly ajar. An eagle eye must be kept on them in the latter case, and be prepared for some failures until experience teaches you. The test for dryness is that a sliver of the root will crack and break when bent. If it is not dry, it will still be pliable and will only bend. Store the dried roots in a glass jar lined with tissue paper until you need them. Then grate the required quantity.

Herbs can also be frozen to preserve them through the winter months. Some, like chives, suit this process very well, as does parsley. Snip off the fresh, perfect leaves, wash them and chop them well and immediately put them in tiny foil envelopes into the freezer. Only put in one envelope what you will need for each dish, and keep the different varieties separate.

Be sure to label each envelope clearly, or you may find basil in the soup or savory in the apple pie!

*26\181\8*

Valerian likes its roots cool, but its foliage warm, and this seems to explain its liking for growing near stone. It will grow from seed planted in the spring. Just press down the seed gently on top of the damp soil, do not cover it, for it needs the warmth at this stage. Germination can be slow, and usually only about half of the little seeds sown will send their shoots through the soil. The root suckers (strictly speaking it is a rhizome, not a root) can be separated in late summer or autumn and replanted if you need more. Keep the flowering stems nipped off if you want to use the root only; it will have more strength. The mature rhizome can be dug in the autumn of the second growing season. This is a hazardous process if you own a cat: it can be sent into an almost delirious state of intoxication by the strong smell from the freshly dug root. After you have fought off any drunken cats, slice the root in slivers and put these on your screens in some out-of-the-way corner where its putrid smell when drying will not cause too much comment. If there are rats about, they will also come to the smell, and canny rat-bait manufacturers often mix dried valerian root with their poisons. Indeed, the Pied Piper is supposed to have lured the rats with a piece of valerian root as well as his magic music.

*149\181\8*

So many recipes abound where parsley is used that here I will give you only a tasty seventeenth-century one.

Green Chicken

Take 6 chicken breasts, bones removed where possible, and skin them. Divide into flat portions. Dredge with seasoned flour and shake off the excess. Dip into egg and milk, coat thoroughly with fine breadcrumbs. Saute over medium heat till cooked through. Remove, and let cool enough to handle. Coat the top side of each piece with beaten egg, then press on the chopped parsley, making sure it adheres to the chicken. Bake in a warm oven for about 10 minutes.

Italian or Hamburg Parsley (P. sativum) is a taller, flat-leaved type mainly grown for its root, the flavour of which is a blend of parsley and parsnip. The root can be dug at the end of the first growing season, and sliced thinly to add to soups or Irish stews, casseroles and many other savoury dishes. Thin slices of the root can also be sauteed in butter and served alone as a vegetable. I think the green leaves of this variety have even more flavour than the curly common type, and they grow so large that you will always have enough and to spare. So, Ogden Nash, parsley is not garsley!

*119\181\8*

Clean and scale the fish, leaving on the head and tail. Then make a marinade of oil, vinegar, and chopped fennel (use the leaves and a couple of stems), and steep the fish in this for about one hour. Place the fish then on a shallow cook-and-serve platter. Blanch several stalks of fennel until they will bend easily. (Dip them in water close to the boil, but not boiling.) Wrap these around the body of the fish; fasten with toothpicks if necessary. Then cook the fish in a moderate oven until the flesh is tender, basting with a knob of butter when necessary. Serve it straight from the oven, with the fennel still in place. Garnish with tiny boiled or steamed potatoes, and chopped fennel leaves sprinkled over.

This fennel butter to glaze fish or vegetables is very appetising too: Chop sprigs of fennel leaves, and mix with two tablespoons of butter, and vegetable salt to taste. Blend well, and drop in little balls on the fish or vegetable dish.

Fennel should not be grown anywhere near the vegetable garden. It will inhibit the growth and fruiting of tomato plants. Coriander should not be grown near fennel either: seed formation of both plants will be poor. If you have a dog, “Plant fennel near the kennel.” It will help to keep fleas away, for they are repelled by its scent.

There is an annual variety of fennel, Florence Fennel, or Finocchio. This is a much shorter, less straggly plant, which as it matures swells out at the base to form a thickened stem about 4 to 6 inches across.

Cut off the whole plant just above the root, and trim off the foliage and top part of the stem, leaving a plump juicy vege¬table about 6 to 8 inches long, ready to slice into your salad bowl, or steam and serve hot, drizzled over with a knob of butter.

You can slice it very thin diagonally, dress it lightly with oil and lemon juice, and serve it as a salad on its own; you can also saute the thin slices quickly in oil or butter, and serve on wedges of toast or with other vegetables.

Use finocchio in egg dishes and hors d’oeuvres too. This unusual omelette is a meal in itself, or a light first course, depending only on the size of the helping.

*88\181\8*

Ways of using salad burnet are more varied than the often rather limited culinary uses of the stronger, more aromatic herbs. It has no perfume at all, so it can be added to any salad or vegetable dish without clashing with other strong flavours. It is seldom used with meat, and never cooked. Try it chopped over asparagus or steamed celery, or as a garnish with a cheese and pineapple salad. Add it to potato salad with parsley and chives, or place a small leaf sprig on sliced cucumber or tomato. Its bland flavour will not offend anyone.

In a fruit cup or claret cup, burnet leaves look fresh and inviting. Add them to fruit salad, too; and they are very compatible with fresh strawberries.

So use your own favourite recipes, and freshen them up with salad burnet. Remember always to use it fresh. It can be quite bitter and unpleasant if cooked.

The herb is very hardy, and will recover from a drought or a flood with equanimity. If you wish to increase your stock of plants, set out several salad burnet near each other and allow some to flower while keeping others to pick for culinary use. The seeds will eventually drop and re-sow themselves, and small plants will spring up around the old ones. This process does not seem to work so well if only a single plant sets seed. Salad burnet is gregarious, and flourishes best in a small colony.

*58\181\8*