Herb of the Month: Cumin – World’s Second Most Popular Spice

By Maryann Readal

Cumin, Cuminum cyminum, is The Herb Society of America’s Herb of the Month for February. When used in cooking, this spice infuses a warm and earthy flavor into dishes, which is especially welcome during the winter months. Cumin is native to Egypt and is cultivated in southern Europe and Asia. According to a United Nations report, India produces about 70% of the world’s cumin and exports the spice to 150 countries (Bailey, 2022). After black pepper, it is the second most popular spice in the world.

Cumin is an annual herb in the parsley family (Apiaceae). The seed that it produces is also called cumin. It requires a long, warm growing season of 120-150 days to produce the seed. In cooler climates seeds can be started indoors and then transplanted into the garden, although they may not transplant well.  Cumin needs full sun and fertile, well-draining soil. Root rot can be a problem if the soil does not drain well. The plant reaches a height of about one foot tall and has feathery  looking leaves and pink or white flowers. The seeds are small and boat-shaped with ridges and are very fragrant. They look similar to caraway seeds. Cumin is available as a whole seed or as a powder. Fresh leaves of the plant can be chopped and tossed into salads.

Cumin seeds have been discovered in 4,000-year-old excavations in Syria and Egypt. Cumin was used in the mummification process of Egyptian pharaohs. References to cumin are found in the Bible, both the New and Old Testaments. During Roman times, it was associated with being frugal with money.  Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161-180 AD, had the nickname Marcus Cuminus because his subjects thought he was reluctant to spend money.  In the Middle Ages, cumin was baked into bread, and it was thought that eating this bread would keep a lover faithful. Soldiers carried it in their pockets for good luck and people fed it to chickens thinking that it kept them from wandering away (Great American Spice Company, 2020). The Hindus considered cumin to be a symbol of fidelity. Cumin was used to pay rent in 13th century England. Records show that King Henry III, ruler of England from 1216-1272, bought 20 pounds of cumin at a time (Maskevich, 2015). When Spanish and Portuguese traders began sailing to the New World in the 15th century, cumin was one of the spices that they brought to the Americas. Southwest US, South American, and Middle American peoples quickly integrated cumin, which they called comino, into their cuisines.

There were medicinal uses for cumin in early history. Early Egyptians used it to treat digestive and chest issues and for reducing pain. Fourth and fifth century BC Greek medical texts show that cumin was used for women’s reproductive problems and to treat hysteria. Medicinal use of cumin was popular throughout the Middle Ages. Today, cumin is used in Ayurvedic medicine as a stimulant for digestion and is prescribed for colic and dyspepsia. It is also still used in Egyptian and Chinese herbal medicine.

But the real value of cumin is in its use as a culinary spice. Recipes using cumin are found in ancient cookbooks dating back to 1750 BC (Bailey, 2022). It is a spice that loses its flavor with age, so it’s recommended to buy cumin in small quantities and replace it often. To get the most flavor from cumin, it can be lightly toasted in the oven and then ground in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder (Kreighbaum, 2022). Cumin is often included in spice blends such as curry powder, chili powder, garam masala, adobo, berbere and other spice mixtures. 

Some say that cumin is always on the table somewhere in the world.  Here are some examples of its uses:

• Indian cuisine: Used in curries, dals, rice, ghee, and other traditional dishes
• Middle Eastern cuisine: Flavors kebabs, lentils, and bean dishes
• Mexican cuisine: Key ingredient in moles, enchiladas, and tamales
• Mediterranean cuisine: Enhances flavor in meat dishes, vegetables, and bread
• North African cuisine: Flavors tagines, stews, and traditional dishes
• Caribbean cuisine: Seasons jerk chicken and curry goat
• Chinese cuisine: Used with lamb in northern and western provinces
• American cuisine: Used in Tex-Mex food, chili, guacamole, tacos, and to flavor everything from vegetables to meats

The late Michelin-starred chef, Joel Robuchon, once said, “One should eat cumin every day” (Kuan, 2020). When adding it to your own dishes, remember that you are doing the same thing that people did at the beginning of recorded history.

More information about cumin and recipes can be found on The Herb Society’s Herb of the Month webpage.

Medicinal Disclaimer: It is the policy of The Herb Society of America, Inc. not to advise or recommend herbs for medicinal or health use. This information is intended for educational purposes only and should not be considered as a recommendation or an endorsement of any particular medical or health treatment. Please consult a health care provider before pursuing any herbal treatments.

Photo Credits: 1)Cumin flowers (Herbolario Allilum, via Wikimedia); 2) Cumin seeds (courtesy of the author); 3) Mummification (André, via Flickr); 4) Cookbook on papyrus, 300 AD (Public Domain); Indian cumin rice (Monali.mishra, via Wikimedia)

References

Bailey, Natasha. 2022. Most of the world’s cumin comes from this country. Accessed 1/26/23. Available from https://www.tastingtable.com/1067263/most-of-the-worlds-cumin-comes-from-this-country/

Great American Spice Company. 2020. Fun facts about cumin. Accessed 1/26/23. Available from https://www.americanspice.com/blogs/fun-facts-on-cumin/

Kreighbaum, Lindsay. 2022. What is cumin? Accessed 1/26/23. Available from https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-cumin-995638

Kuan, Diana. 2020. Rethinking our relationship with cumin. Accessed 1/26/23. Available from https://tastecooking.com/rethinking-our-relationship-with-cumin/

Maskevich, Adam. From ancient Sumeria to Chipoltle tacos, cumin has spiced up the world.  Accessed 1/23/23. Available from https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/03/11/392317352/is-cumin-the-most-globalized-spice-in-the-world

Urban Farmer.  2018.  From seed to harvest: a beginner’s guide to growing cumin. Accessed 1/17/23. Available from https://www.ufseeds.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-UrbanFarmer-Library/default/dwd5834346/images/content/Instructions-for-Growing-Cumin.pdf

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Maryann is the Secretary of The Herb Society of America and aTexas Master Gardener. She is a member of The Society’s Texas Thyme Unit in Huntsville, TX. Maryann is also a certified Native Landscape Specialist. She lectures on herbs and plants and does the herb training for several Master Gardener programs. She gardens among the pines in the Piney Woods of East Texas.

An Incredible Herb Right Under Our Feet…or Above Our Heads

By Katherine Schlosser

For most of us, our garden tools are cleaned and stored, the holidays have passed, and we have a little more time to simply enjoy what we find in meadows, forests, fields, and even in our own backyards. Lichens can fill a part of the void we may be feeling. Their curious forms and means of growing and spreading, with which many of us are unfamiliar, can fill our minds with the wonders of things we normally pass without notice.  

There are more than 5,000 species of lichen and lichen-dependent fungi in North America, with colors ranging from blues, lavender, yellow, red, orange, and gray to many beautiful greens. Color in lichens can depend on whether they are wet or dry. A major paint company even created a color they call Lichen to mimic the natural, earthy beauty of the organism. Perfectly described by Ed Yong in a July 2016 issue of The Atlantic, “They can look like flecks of peeling paint, or coralline branches, or dustings of powder, or lettuce-like fronds, or wriggling worms, or cups that a pixie might drink from.”

The forms lichens take are grouped in one of several general types, including:

Foliose – mostly flat with leaf-like structures, with each side having a different appearance 

Fruticose – may have tiny “branches” and a bushy appearance

Crustose – appear like flat, crusty painted spots on trees, branches, logs, roof, or rocks

Other forms include:

Filamentous – stringy and hair-like

Gelatinous – jelly-like and somewhat formless 

Leprose – have a powdery appearance

Squamulose – small, flat leafy scales with raised tips

Lichens have been used by humans for thousands of years, mostly as medicinals but also as foods, beverages, dyestuffs, cosmetics, brewing, animal fodder—even as an indicator of atmospheric pollution. As useful as they have been, our understanding of lichens has been slow.

Until the late 1800s, lichens were still thought of as plants. In 1868 Simon Schwendener, a Swiss botanist, identified them as a fungus and an alga living in a cooperative relationship. Later botanists recognized the relationship as mutually beneficial, with the alga using sunlight to produce nutrients and the fungus providing shelter, water, and minerals.

Botanists held with the partnership assumption, even though they struggled unsuccessfully to get lichens to grow in the lab. What they were missing was brought to light 150 years later by Tony Spribille, who spent years collecting lichen samples and screening them for genes of basidiomycete fungi. 

What had been missed by generations of lichenologists was basidiomycetes, the third member in the partnership of lichens. With the right combination of two fungi and an algal species, a lichen would form. There is much more to learn, but thanks to Spribille, the journey has begun.

Quoting Ed Yong again, Spribille and his associates found that, through a microscope, “a lichen looks like a loaf of ciabatta: it has a stiff, dense crust surrounding a spongy, loose interior. The alga is embedded in the thick crust. The familiar ascomycete fungus is there too, but it branches inwards, creating the spongy interior. And the basidiomycetes? They’re in the outermost part of the crust, surrounding the other two partners. ‘They’re everywhere in that outer layer,’ says Spribille.” And the mystery was solved.

The most frequently noticed are the crustose lichens seen on trees, often looking like someone spray-painted blotches on tree trunks, or left a trail marker. These can vary from shades of gray to greens, blues, and yellows. They are attractive to me but lead some to think their tree has been attacked by disease.  

No need to panic; these lichens don’t sink their “teeth” through the bark and into the tree. However, there are some lichens that contribute to the breakdown, or weathering, by physical and chemical processes, of the rocks to which they are attached. Physical effects occur by penetration of the rocks by hyphae and the swelling of organic and inorganic salts. Chemical processes include the “excretion of various organic acids, particularly oxalic acid, which can effectively dissolve minerals” (Chen 2000). The result is the eventual breakdown of rock into the mix of ingredients making our soil.

As an aside, Alexandra Rodrigues and associates inoculated newly created stained glass samples with fungi previously isolated and identified on original stained glass windows. They found that “fungi produced clear damage on all glass surfaces, present as spots and stains, fingerprints, biopitting, leaching and deposition of elements, and formation of biogenic crystals”  (Rodrigues et al, 2014). Let that be a warning to keep your stained glass windows clean. 

Of particular interest to members of The Herb Society of America are the useful aspects of these frequently overlooked species that are building blocks of our green planet. Found growing in moist, shady places, they also thrive in hot, dry lands. Though widely spread across the globe, growing on cold mountaintops to hot deserts on rocks, trees, fallen logs, on fertile soil or dry crust, each species has specific nutrient, air, water, light, and substrate requirements.

They vary widely in usability too, from serving as alerts for the presence of air pollution to providing survival food. Rock tripe, most often seen as green to black leafy-looking masses on boulders, might be the last thing you would consider putting into your mouth, but it turns out that, for thousands of years, they have saved people from starvation. After boiling and draining a few times, they can be made into a soup, even if barely palatable. 

One of the more interesting lichens is known as Icelandic moss (Cetraria islandica ), which first came to my attention in the form of Fjallagrasa Icelandic Schnapps. If you look closely at the bottle pictured, you will see a sprig of the lichen in the bottle. Hand picked from the wilderness of Iceland, the lichen is steeped in alcohol, which extracts the color and flavor of the lichen. Sadly, I have not tasted it myself but have heard from a friend, and read, that it is a drink that requires a slight adjustment of expectations. Regardless, I’m almost willing to make the trip to Iceland just for the experience. The manufacturer recommends drinking “in moderation in the company of good friends”—a sound recommendation.

Beyond alcohol, this particular lichen has multiple medicinal uses, too. The active compounds in Icelandic moss have demonstrated antioxidant, antibacterial, and antifungal properties (Grujicˇic´ et al., 2014).The mucilaginous compounds (polysaccharides) aid in soothing oral and pharyngeal membranes, relieving coughs of common colds.

Scandinavian countries were long known to use Icelandic moss in making breads and soups. They dried the moss, reconstituted it, then dried it again and ground it to mix into flour. Due to the polysaccharides, the lichen added structure as well as flavor. Many other cultures used it as an addition to flour to cut the expense of flour. Used far less now, over the years, it was an important source of nutrients for many people.

Parmotrema perlatum, commonly known as black stone flower, is used as a spice in India and elsewhere, and is often added to Garam Masala blends. As found, it has no fragrance; exposed to the heat of cooking, it releases an earthy, smoky aroma. 

Unlikely as it sounds, some lichens can be fragrant, and some act as a fixative in the preparation of cosmetics and perfumes. Oakmoss lichen, used in perfumery, is found on oak trees, as well as a few other deciduous trees and pines.

A number of lichens are used in the dyeing and tanning industries. If you took high school science, you are familiar with Litmus strips. Those strips are made from litmus, which is obtained from a couple of species of lichens, Roccella tinctoria and Lasallia pustulata.

Winter may be upon us, but there is still plenty to see and study right under our noses in the garden, yard, and out walking on trails. Take notes, take photos, and spend a lazy afternoon identifying what you have found and what uses it may have. Future ventures into the forest will hold considerably more interest for you.

Enjoy!

Medicinal Disclaimer: It is the policy of The Herb Society of America, Inc. not to advise or recommend herbs for medicinal or health use. This information is intended for educational purposes only and should not be considered as a recommendation or an endorsement of any particular medical or health treatment. Please consult a health care provider before pursuing any herbal treatments.

Photo Credits: 1) Old man’s beard (Usnea articulate), a fruticose lichen, photo taken in Linville Falls, NC 2009 (Kathy Schlosser); 2) Lobaria pulmonaria, tree lungwort, used for its astringent properties in tanning, photo taken in Acadia National Park, 2014 (Kathy Schlosser); 3) A foliose rough speckled shield lichen (Punctelia rudecta) covered with isidia (tiny projections which can detach to form new growth and grow from the white spots and streaks), photo taken on the Blue Ridge Parkway, NC 2009 (Kathy Schlosser); 4) Umbilicaria mammulata, smooth rock tripe (Alex Graeff,  iNaturalist); 5) A crustose lichen species in Acadia National Park, 2014 (Kathy Schlosser); 6) Pixie cups lichen (Cladonia sp.) growing amongst a cushion moss (Dricanum sp.), 2011 (Kathy Schlosser); 7) Cetraria islandica, Iceland moss (Darya masalova, iNaturalist); 8) Parmotrema caperata (now P. perlatum) as it appears in Flora Batava, vol. 10, 1849 (via Wikimedia); 9) Evernia prunastri, oakmoss lichen used in perfumery (Liondelyon, via Wikimedia)

References

Adams, Ian. Shield lichens at West Woods, Geauga County. Ian Adams Photography website, March 29, 2020.     https://ianadamsphotography.com/news/shield-lichens-at-west-woods-geauga-county/  Accessed 12-04-2021.

Cetraria islandica,  Iceland moss.  https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Cetraria+islandica Accessed 12-15-2021. 

Chen, J., H-P. Blume, and L. Beyer. 2000. Weathering of rocks induced by lichen colonization: A review. CATENA. 39(2). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0341-8162(99)00085-5. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0341816299000855   Accessed 12-19-2021.

Crawford, S. D. 2015. Lichens used in traditional medicine. Lichen Secondary Metabolites, chapter 2. Springer International Publishing.  DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-13374-4_2   Accessed  12-28-2021 

Daniel, G., and N. Polanin. 2013. Tree-dwelling lichens. Rutgers, N.J. Agricultural Experiment Station. https://njaes.rutgers.edu/fs1205/  Accessed 1-1-2022. 

Fink, B. 1906. Lichens: Their economic role. The Plant World. 9(11). Published by Wiley on behalf of the Ecological Society of America. Stable URL: 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/43476359   Accessed 11-18-2021. 

Graeff, Alex.  Smooth Rock Tripe, Umbilicaria mammulata.  Photo 70633379, iNaturalists, (some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND).  https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/70633379  Accessed 12-29-2021.

Grujičić, D., I. Stošić, M. Kosanić, T. Stanojković, B. Ranković, and O. Milošević-Djordjević. 2014. Evaluation of in vitro antioxidant, antimicrobial, genotoxic and anticancer activities of lichen Cetraria islandica. Cytotechnology. 66(5): 803-813.

Kops, Jan.  Flora Batava of Afbeelding en Beschrijving van Nederlandsche Gewassen, (1849).  Parmelia caperata, illus. Christiaan Seep,  Vol. X, Amsterdam, Deel.  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Parmelia_caperata_%E2%80%94_Flora_Batava_%E2%80%94_Volume_v10.jpg   Accessed   11-09-2021.

Lichen Identification Guide, Discover Life website.  https://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide=Lichens_USGA    Accessed 1-1-2022.

Max Planck Society.  The hidden talents of mosses and lichens.  https://phys.org/news/2021-12-hidden-talents-mosses-lichens.html 

Perez-Llano, G. A. 1944. Lichens: Their biological and economic significance. Botanical Review. 10(1).  Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4353298   Accessed 12-23-2021. 

Perez-Llano, G. S. 1948. Economic uses of lichens. Economic Botany. 2: 15-45.

Rodrigues, A., S. Gutierrez-Patricio, A. Zélia Miller, C. Saiz-Jimenez, R. Wiley, D. Nunes, M. Vilarigues, and M. F. Macedo. 2014. Fungal biodeterioration of stained-glass windows. International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation. 90.    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibiod.2014.03.007. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0964830514000663   Accessed 12-19-2021. 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, U./S. Forest Service, Lichens Glossary. https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/beauty/lichens/glossary.shtml   Accessed 12-04-2021.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service.  Lichen Habitat.  https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/beauty/lichens/habitat.shtml   Accessed 12-18-2021. 

U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service.  Lichens—The Little Things That Matter  https://www.nps.gov/articles/lichen-and-our-air.htm  Accessed 12-21-2021. 

Yong, E. 2016. How a guy from a Montana trailer park overturned 150 years of biology. The Atlantic, July 22, 2016.  http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/07/how-a-guy-from-a-montana-trailer-park-upturned-150-years-of-biology/491702/    Accessed October 2016. 

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Katherine Schlosser (Kathy) has been a member of the North Carolina Unit of The Herb Society of America since 1991, serving in many capacities at the local and national level, including as a member of the Native Herb Conservation Committee, The Herb Society of America. She was awarded the Gertrude B. Foster Award for Excellence in Herbal Literature and the Helen de Conway Little Medal of Honor. She is an author, lecturer, and native herb conservation enthusiast eager to engage others in the study and protection of our native herbs.

HSA Webinar: Shedding Light on the Solanaceae: An Exploration of Our Relationship with Nightshades

by Jen Munson, HSA Education Chair

The nightshade family of plants sounds ominous  – how could it not with the use of the words night and shade? The official name of this family is Solanaceae, and these plants are characterized by the shape of the flower, which in some cases feature near perfect pentagrams of petals, sepals, and stamens, and in others the petals are fused to form long tubes.

The Solanaceae features nearly 90 genera and 3,000 species, including some of humanity’s most important plants. You may be surprised to learn that many of our everyday foods fall in the nightshade family. These include hot and bell peppers, potatoes, eggplant, and tomatoes. To learn more, join HSA on April 13th at 1pm EDT when National Herb Garden gardener, Erin Holden, joins us for “Shedding Light on the Solanaceae: An Exploration of Our Relationship with Nightshades.” 

Although many plants in this family are edible, others are recognized for their hallucinogenic properties, use in witchcraft, and/or some level of toxicity. The toxicity comes from the level of alkaloids the plant contains, and the effects of these alkaloids are what made them useful historically. For example, thornapple (Datura stramonium) was used by religions to aid in dreams and visions. More recognizable is the mandrake (Mandragora officinarum), which was highlighted in the Harry Potter series for its role in potion making. It is surmised that the high level of alkaloids evolved out of self-preservation to prevent being consumed by animals. During our April 13th program the deep relationship between humans and members of the Solanaceae family will be further explored, from their magical uses to their application as medicine, poison, and food.  

Our webinars are free to members and $5.00 for guests. Become a member today and enjoy all our webinars for free. As a bonus, you will automatically be entered into a drawing for a free registration to our June 10-12th, 2021 Annual Meeting of Members and Educational Conference.  To register visit www.HerbSociety.org/hsa-learn/hsa-webinars/

Photo Credits: 1) Datura stramonium (Erin Holden); 2) Lycopersicon esculentum ‘Supersweet 100‘ (David J. Stang)

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About Erin Holden: Erin Holden works at the U.S. National Arboretum as gardener for the National Herb Garden, where she started as an intern in 2013. She received a B.S. in biology from Radford University, an M.S. in herbal medicine from the Maryland University of Integrative Health, and recently completed a horticulture minor through Oregon State University. In 2018 she helped launch Herban Lifestyles, an herbal educational series at the Arboretum that teaches participants how to incorporate herbs into everyday life, from dyeing with plants to making herbal salves.

In addition to working at the National Arboretum, Erin is a clinical herbalist and has served as a teaching assistant for different herbal medicine graduate courses. Erin has also started a small business creating art with plants. She is a member of the American Herbalists Guild, United Plant Savers, and a member-at-large of The Herb Society of America.

Herb Potions Enhance Your Love Life

Eye of newt, and toe of frog, 
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, 
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting, 
Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing,— 
For a charm of powerful trouble, 
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. 

Macbeth, Shakespeare

If you could create a magic potion, what would that elixir do? Vanquish your enemies? Improve your love life?

Let’s go with the latter, enhance your love life. Curl up with Stephanie L. Tourles’s  book  Making Love Potions, 64 All-Natural Recipes for Irresistible Herbal Aphrodisiacs  and learn love life elixirs.

Both playful and serious, Tourles applies science to selecting arousing aromas. She writes, “In clinical studies performed in the 1990s at the Chicago-based Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, Dr. Alan R. Hirsch examined the degree to which various scents can trigger sexual arousal in men and women as measured by an increase in blood flow to the sexual organs.”

While individual history and experience can certainly skew results, the researchers found that women were most aroused by the aroma-combination of Good-and-Plenty candy and cucumber. Meanwhile, men preferred a lavender-pumpkin-pie blend. Don’t ask how they determined that or why those mixtures because Tourles doesn’t say. But, Thanksgiving dessert could make for an interesting nap.

Tourles used the research to formulate several recipes for body powder, including one scented with, yup, pumpkin spice and another with lavender. I’m thinking “lavender.”

The book continues with potions for aromatic baths, massage oils, herbal tonics and edible body butters.  Get energized with a ginseng wine or a tingly mint body honey. Chapter 8, Aphrodite’s  Apothecary is a helpful digest of herbs and ingredients.

With 64 recipes, there’s bound to be a magic potion for everyone.

 

 

 

 

Herb Update: Chocolate is Now Pink

By Paris Wolfe, Blogmaster, The Herb Society of America

Chocolate is part of the herb world. Or so I’ve decided after doing a little reading and research. In fact,

Herb Society of America’s own education coordinator Karen Kennedy says,

“I’m sure it depends on who you talk to.  It seems to me that chocolate itself is not because it is a product made from several different ingredients. Cacao, from the tree Theobroma cacao, fits our definition of an herb.  Cacao, derived from this tree has both flavoring and medicinal properties, including as a stimulant, diuretic, lowers blood pressure, etc. Cocoa butter is used for damaged and sore skin.  If you look up this tree and perhaps the ethnobotany of it, you will find both historical and modern day uses.  Chocolate is both a flavor and a food, so in a sense–it is an herb!”

Her answer is enough for me.

And just when I thought I knew a lot about this herb, along comes a brand new type of chocolate. Move over dark, milk and white. Make room for ruby chocolate, just introduced by international chocolate-maker Barry Callebaut. The company describes the chocolate as “an intense sensorial delight. A tension between berry-fruitiness and luscious smoothness.”

Turns out ruby chocolate is made from the ruby cocoa bean and gets its color and flavor from it. No berry flavor or color is added.  The beans come from different places in the world and the chocolate company has created an innovative process to capitalize on its unique properties.

Introduced to the world on September 5, 2017, ruby chocolate is purported to have different flavor profiles from its siblings, something I’m longing to test. I’m continuing to watch for more information as it becomes available.

 

 

Discover the Best Lavender for Cooking

By Paris Wolfe, Blogmaster, The Herb Society of America

In early July I was invited to a potluck picnic for Edible Cleveland magazine. Potlucks push my overachiever button and I wanted to impress my fellow writers. So, I challenged myself to making something apropos of the magazine — local, seasonal and organic. As the blogmaster for The Herb Society of America I thought it would be fun to reflect my passion for herbs.

Lavender scones seemed like a great idea, but they just weren’t impressive enough. So, I picked up The Art of Cooking with Lavender by Nancy Baggett. There I found a recipe for lavender chicken salad.

 

(The boyfriend said he’d chose Wendy’s over lavender-spiked food, but he ate the chicken salad without notice.)

My next step was to gather significant ingredients … free-range, organic chicken from New Creation Farm in Chardon, Ohio, and lavender from Luvin’ Lavender in Madison, Ohio. That’s where I learned that not all lavender is created equal when it comes to the kitchen.

Luvin’ Lavender grows 19 varieties, with a seven best suited to culinary use. That’s because each variety has subtle (or even bold) taste differences. Some are sweeter or more floral; others have a stronger camphor component.

Having learned from the owner Laurie H, I turned to my friend Edgar Anderson of Fragrant Isle Lavender Farm, Shop & Le Petit Bistro on Washington Island in Door County, Wisconsin, with more questions on lavender in the kitchen. Anderson and his wife Martine operate a 21-acre farm with 14,000 plants – 10 varieties — on five acres of land. In addition to their Washington Island retail shop, they operate another retail shop in Fish Creek, WI and a bistro with a lavender-based menu.

“For cooking, it’s best to stay within the English varieties – Lavendula angustifolia,” he says.  The most commonly found L. angustifolias as retail are ‘Hidcote’, ‘Munstead’ and ‘Royal Velvet’.

“Within the English there are minute nuances. They’re usually very sweet in taste and smell. One might be more lemony or flowery, but all are easy to work with in the kitchen,” says Edgar. Fragrant Isle uses royal velvet in most of their edible products.

English lavender is usually harvested from June through July. Fragrant Isle harvests twice, once for buds and once for distilling into oil. Harvesting for dry buds – unopened flowers – is done by hand. Flower stems are cut and made into small bundles tied with rubberbands.

The bundles hang in a barn for six weeks until they’re dry enough to separate purple flower buds from gray-green stems. While the farm mechanizes separation, home growers can gently shake or brush the crop into a bag or onto a cloth.

Leaves, stems and debris should not be part of the process . “You don’t want them because they will give a grassy scent to your cooking. We have vibrating sifting screens to remove debris. They go through three different screenings.” At home colanders and mesh sifters might be useful.

The culinary lavender oil is distilled from fresh lavender bundles.   The fresh lavender bundles are placed in their copper still, usually 40 pounds of fresh lavender bundles, and once the water reaches 212 degrees F, the lavender is “cooked” for 90 minutes.   Then the lavender flowers release their essential oil and hydrosol, which are captured in a glass container.   The essential oil, being lighter than water floats to the top.   Once the hydrosol is drained, the essential oil remains and is placed in a glass bottle.   Culinary essential oil is used for baking, as it is more potent than culinary lavender buds.

Once processed Fragrant Isle either uses the lavender in the bistro or packages it for sale. Home growers should put it in a sealed container – preferably glass — and store away from humidity.

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Fragrant Isle Lavender Farm & Shop, is hosting its 3rd Annual “All Things Lavender” Festival Friday, July 21 – Sunday, July 23, 2017.  Festival highlights include daily seminars presented by Lavender Industry Experts, Experiences to explore one’s inner artist with painting classes, pampering with massages, Destiny Readings, Lavender U-Pick Field, Entertainment by Musical performers & Washington Island Scandinavian Folk Dancers and Food be it a taste of “lavender,” from sweet to savory, exquisite chocolates, Apple Lavender Cider, or Light Belgian style beer with bright lavender and honey tones.

What to do with Garlic Scapes

At the Willoughby, Ohio, Farmers Market my farmer friend Maggie Fusco handed me a blue plastic grocery bag half full of garlic scapes. There must have been 100 of those long, circled flower stalks that must be trimmed from hardneck garlic to make certain energy goes back into the bulb. What was I supposed to do with so many scapes? Thank goodness she shared her weekly newsletter … it was full of ideas. — Paris Wolfe, Blogmaster

By Maggie Fusco, Wood Road Salad Farm, Madison, Ohio

You can chop ‘em and saute’ ‘em…..

You can pesto and puree’ ‘em…..

You can roast ‘em

You can toast ‘em

You can grill ‘em

You can swill ‘em?

You can eat ‘em on a boat

You can eat ‘em with a goat

You can use ‘em now or freeze for later

Either way it doesn’t matter

Get ‘em soon while they last

Like all things seasonal

They come and go so fast!

What am I rhyming about? Garlic Scapes of course!

Botanically speaking, the scape is any leafless flower stalk. The flower of the well-known Hosta plant falls into the classification of scape as do the flowers of many other plants. Each garlic produces one scape. If the scape is left on the garlic plant it will flower and produce seeds. (The wild garlic you tell me you have in your yard is spread this way.)

 

Cutting the scape from the garlic plant helps it focus more energy into making a bigger bulb underground (good for us) rather than making seed up top which is its real job in life. Turns out the garlic scape is not only edible – it has mild garlic/green flavor — it’s delightful to eat!

So, how can we use the scapes? Any way you already use garlic you can use scapes instead or treat them as would fresh young green beans.

Chop and sauté along with any dish or make a simple pesto by blending with olive oil for fresh use or to freeze for later. Braid them into wreaths and roast or grill them. Cut them into uniform lengths and make refrigerator pickles.  (NOTE: I mix the pesto into mayonnaise and serve with burgers, amazing. – PW)

Scapes are most likely found in July at farmer’s markets in Northeast Ohio.  They keep nicely wrapped in plastic for up to a month.

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Maggie Fusco and Justin Kopczak own Wood Road Salad Farm in Madison Ohio. They have been happily married and growing great produce since 2002.  They call their fields a “salad” farm because in the beginning they grew mostly lettuces and greens but then one crop led to another, and every season became a new adventure in growing and eating.

 

Herbs Add Interest to Beer

By Paris Wolfe, Blogmaster, The Herb Society of America

Copyright Ohio University

In late June I took my youngest son to orientation at Ohio University where he plans to study biology with the goal of finding a job in environmental science. (His mom’s influence, perhaps?) For the two-day introduction parents and students separated for sessions of different focus. Up to this point, no problem.

But … let’s just say I’m GPS–challenged. Faced with too many one-way streets and no co-pilot, I looped the campus twice before finding the assigned parking lot. After an already long day of bouncing among buildings, I walked yet another half mile – with luggage – to the dorm room check-in line. Then, by streetlight I trudged another quarter mile and lugged my stuff up three flights of stairs … only to find broken air conditioning.

Overcome by emotions and fatigue I was near tears. A kind gentleman on the orientation staff helped me relocate. Requiring some self-medication I asked him to recommend a place for beer … something within easy walking distance.

His suggestion: Jackie O’s Public House in uptown Athens, Ohio.

To my delight, the brewers are playful and many of their beers use unlikely ingredients. Yes, that includes herbs … a trend that you’ll read more about in the 2018 edition of The Herbarist.

Upon hearing I like bitter, hoppy beer, Bartender Bruce thunked two brews on the wooden bar top – Jackie O’s New Growth Summer Spruce Tip IPA and Jackie O’s Next Level Lager (the first India Pale Lager I’ve ever seen) – and waited for my facial expressions to change. The Lager was good, but the IPA was amazing. The reason, perhaps, was the inclusion of lemon balm and spruce tips in the brewing process. Both are grown on a farm owned by Jackie O’s.

A few swallows and my problems buzzed away. The spruce tips enhanced a fresh piney bitterness and I suspect the lemon balm added a clean and crisp quality.

To entertain myself – after all I was a single woman at a bar — I read through the list of 30 beers created by the brew master. In addition to raspberries, various hops and bourbon-barrel aging, herbs were part of the formula. These included …

• Pretty Ricky, a blonde ale made with hibiscus flowers.
• Tongue Thai’d, an IPA made with lemon grass, lemon verbena and ginger.
• Oro Negro, an imperial stout made with vanilla beans, cacao nibs, cinnamon and Habanero peppers then conditions for months on oak staves.
• Gose, a mixed culture beer brewed with salt and coriander.

Relaxed and re-energized, I headed back to the dorm with samples of New Growth Summer Spruce Tip IPA to share with those back home.

Top Herb Publication – The Herbarist 2016 – Coming Soon

By Paris Wolfe, Blogmaster, The Herb Society of America

When I was a preteen setting the dinner table, in the 1970s, I always placed sliced bread and pickles on the table. Both, of course, were homemade. The pickles could be cucumbers, beets or mixed vegetables. But, a meal wasn’t complete without pickles.

Times, and dinner, changed as life approached the speed of sound. And, at some point, the bread – too many carbs – and pickles disappeared from the ritual. Too bad. Modern science is proving that vinegar has health benefits (that may even include aiding weight loss).

Time to get back to pickles. Or, better yet, explore “shrubs:” … not the plant, but a historic beverage spiked with fruit-infused vinegar.

Get an introduction to this 17^th century concoction in the 2016 issue of The Herbarist. The magazine ships in mid-November to members of The Herb Society of America. Non-members can obtain a copy by joining the Society or ordering for $16.50. To inquire about a copy call 440.256.0514 or email herbs@herbsociety.org.

In the magazine, authors Susan Belsinger and Tina Marie Wilcox note:

“A shrub is basically a fruited vinegar— a syrup made from fruit, vinegar and sweetener. Shrubs can be just that simple, or they can contain alcohol. This age-old beverage, both tangy and sour, is believed to be of Turkish origin. Its first recorded use was in the 1600s. Travelers and trade ships carried the drink across land and ocean, keeping scurvy away from sailors at sea.”

Beyond the shrub article, the magazine includes 11 articles covering everything from art to gardening. Lush photography and design are a feast for the eyes.

The Herbarist will be easily identifed by the frame-worthy cover. To produce it HSA editor Brent DeWitt created original art with colored pencil and watercolors, then finished composing with Photoshop. “I created this art in the style of Alphonse Mucha, a well-known Czech artist from the turn of the century,” he explains.

Overall Brent says, “I like that is a new design, plant-focused and has a lot to do with gardening and the utility of plants,” says Brent.

Executive Director Katrinka Morgan adds, “The Herbarist is always the top-rated membership benefit. It’s what everybody waits for. This year’s images are outstanding and support the content well. It’s a great package.”

The publication is the result of many authors as well as members of The Herbarist committee.  Brent coordinated the magazine’s text and artistic design. The issue’s graphic design was by Impel Creative of Lakewood, Ohio and SP Mount Printing in Cleveland, Ohio was again the printer. Here’s a little peek at the printing process…

 

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It’s time to submit article idea for review for the 2017 issue of The Herbarist.  Production of the 2017 edition will begin in mid-2017.

 

Herbal Tea Harvest Time

By Paris Wolfe, Blogmaster, The Herb Society of America

I’ve been thinking about Christmas since March, brainstorming what I’m going to make for family and friends. Last year I gifted baskets of homemade jams and chutneys. A handful of folks received mint syrup for their ice cream and drinks …the result of a failed mint jelly attempt.

Among other things, this year’s package may be beverage themed. It will probably include herbal cordials. And, now I’m thinking mint tea blends. For those blends, I’ve been cutting mint every few days as it’s so prolific in its sunny corner by the barn. If only the catnip and lemon balm would catch up. I haven’t yet identified my blends, but I’m collecting other herb materials like fragrant rose petals, pineapple sage, lemon verbena and more.

Chamomile maybe be prolific and boast sleepy-time properties, but I avoid it because it gives me hay fever. Then, my sleep is inspired by the Benadryl that I take to counteract it.

While loose tea is lovely in a metal tin, I’ll source paper tea bags to make brewing easier for my friends. I know they’re more likely to use bags. And, that gives a new presentation opportunity.

I will design tags for the string end, something happy and fun. After all, packaging is a key part of experience. And, I’m watching garage sales and thrift stores for tins and canisters to hold those tea bags. (I may use half-pint canning jars or whatever I find in the dollar section at Target.)

As for blends, it’s hard for me to follow recipes. Those are mere guidelines for mortals. LOL.  I have to tweak things my way. And, tea blends depend on the resources. If I have more mint, I use more mint. More lemon herbs, I spike my teas with them.

I insist that my teas must be homegrown and organic. The rest will be spontaneous magic.

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What do you mix to make herbal tea?