Mad About Herbs

Herbs on Allotments , Peppers and Podcast

You  will find some hints and tips on growing or choosing herbs for allotments in one of the articles in my February newsletter.  (If you'd like to subscribe (and also receive a free report) click here).   

I have also covered this subject in a bit more detail on Emma's Alternative Kitchen Garden Podcast.  Emma starts off the podcast with some really good information about growing peppers, something that I have yet to master!

So if you want to have a listen to the podcast click here  then click on akg055.mp3 and let me know whether you have any questions or any topics you would like to know more about, I'll cover them in a future newsletter, on the blog or in the podcast.

How to make a Herbal bath bag

I'm excited to tell you that my third children's activity 'Lavender/Rose petal bath bag'  has been published on the ichild website as a Mother's Day gift idea. My 10 year old daughter made the one shown in the photo.

If you want to take a peek, visit this page and let me know what you think.

(In case you missed them, the other activities were: How to make an orange Pomander and Spiced Biscuits).

How to use Cinnamon in your meals

There are many reported health benefits for consuming cinnamon and luckily I love the taste of it.  I remember having cinnamon toast as a child (bread soaked in a mixture of egg, cinnamon and a tiny bit of sugar then fried).  One of my daughters likes it too.

Now I like wholemeal toast with tahini and bananas sprinkled with cinnamon instead.

Cinnamon is a sweet flavoured spice, commonly used as a major constituent of 'Mixed spice'. 

The whole quills or cinnamon sticks can be added to stews, used to flavour curries, mulled wine, punches, added to stewing fruit for flavour, rice dishes (including rice pudding) or used to stir and flavour hot chocolate or coffee.

Ground cinnamon is lovely sprinkled over cappuccino coffee.

It can be added to bread dough to make tasty buns.

Ground cinnamon goes well with egg in many dishes; so is commonly used in cakes, pastries and biscuits.

It should be stored in an airtight jar, in a cool dark cupboard. Ground cinnamon will lose its flavour more quickly than the quills/sticks so buy little and often.

A great supplier for herbs and spices is Steenbergs, their herbs and spices are organic and many carry the Fairtrade mark.  I bought some for my brother at Christmas and he was amazed at the strength of the aroma when you first open the jar; it seemed fresher than any others he has had before and he is very much into his cooking!

If you have any delicious ways that you use cinnamon, please leave a comment below.

Happy Valentines Day! The Language of Flowers

Is there a hidden meaning in your bouquet?

In the Victorian era, particular flowers (the little bouquets are called 'Tussie Mussies' or 'talking bouquet') were chosen to convey a certain message.  The Tussie Mussie in the photo is one that I made as part of my daughter's Victorian outfit for a Victorian Day at school.

However, if you received flowers for Valentine's Day recently, it is unlikely that the sender chose the flowers for their historical meanings, but it might be fun to work it out!

Below are a few 'translations':

carnation - admiration, fascination, ardent and pure love, unfading beauty

red rose - I love you, passion, desire, beauty, harmony, joy, charm, luck, pride, martyrdom

red and white roses - creative force, joy, unity

pink rose - grace, beauty

yellow rose - friendship, jealousy, unfaithful, forgive and forget

lily - purity, fruitfulness, majesty

snapdragon - you are dazzling, but dangerous!

yellow carnation - I do not believe you

freesia - innocence

pink tulip - love, imagination, dreaminess

red tulip - declaration of ardent love

yellow tulip - hopeless love

white tulip - lost love

statt ice - remembrance, gratitude

stock - promptness, lasting beauty

bleeding heart - fidelity

feverfew leaf - warmth, good health, you light up my life

A combination of various flowers and foliage could be used to convey messages for various occasions such as holidays, good health wishes, love and romance, friendship and celebrations.

Hmm, I wonder what the hidden meaning in receiving a box of chocolates is? Not sure I want an answer to that ;-)

If you're interested in me writing in more detail about Tussie Mussies, just leave a comment below.

Whether you're with someone or not today, make sure you do something special for yourself however small.

Pots of fun

It's half term and we've been having fun painting flower pots.  Well, it started out with me trying to sort out the heaps of pots in the greenhouse, realising we now how far too many but wanting to recycle them somehow.  I guess I could 'freecycle' them. 

I have some paints which are suitable for outside use but are really for painting onto terracotta, metal and stone, so this is a bit of an experiment using them on plastic and yes I know it doesn't look so good but I like my plain terracotta pots and want to keep them that way.

They may not be works of art but the girls had fun painting for a while and they will like using them to start off their sunflower and other seeds over the next couple of months or for putting their own plants in.

Time to clear up the mess now, hey, where did those girls go?!

Does anyone have any other creative uses for surplus plastic pots?

How to make Bouquet garni

At this time of year the main herbs still available for picking such as parsley, sweet bay, thyme and sage are the ones which make a great bouquet garni.  This is traditionally used to introduce herb flavours into winter stews and casseroles.

There are many variations on the recipe so feel free to experiment with the herbs you have (the one in the photo consists of rosemary, sage, oregano and thyme).

A basic recipe is:
2 to 3 bay leaves
3 sprigs of thyme
1 bunch of parsley

Tie the herb stalks together with string or place in a small piece of muslin/a muslin bag and fasten securely at the top before adding to the pot.

The bouquet garni should be added at the beginning of the cooking and removed after one to two hours.

If you don't have fresh herbs you could still create a mixture of dried herbs placed into a muslin bag as above or just loose in the mixture if you don't mind the bits!

I'd love to hear what your favourite combinations are either here or on the new forum.