7 Everyday Herbs Final

8/2/2019 7 Everyday Herbs Final

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Copyright Mad About Herbs 2007 All rights reserved. A free resource from: www.madaboutherbs.org

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with compliments and best wishes from

Mad About Herbs

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www.madaboutherbs.org


2/11


Sprinkle some of these herbs into your meal tonight and youll have

found the quick, easy and tasty way to improve your own and your

familys health!

Welcome to your free report on Healthy Cooking with Herbs!

Herbs can be used in so many ways ranging from culinary avouring to dyeing clothes.The wonderful health benets of adding herbs to your cooking are often overlooked.

They add fragrance, colour and avour but also provide essential nutrients andantioxidants.

This makes the addition of herbs to your cooking an easy way to enhance your generalhealth in an enjoyable way every day!

This reports emphasis is on the culinary aspect of seven popular herbs:

Basil Chives Mint Parsley Rosemary Sage Thyme

I have tried to keep the information simple and practical so it is useful to everyone whetherthey are new to herbs or have just dabbled a bit in the past and want to know more.

This document has been designed so that you can print off any page relating to the herbsyou have right now, the pages can also be hole punched and led in an A4 folder. Thereare more resources available on the website and within my ezine which you may also wishto print out.

If you would like to receive more free and inspiring herb gardening, cooking and craft tipsin my monthly ezine, please visit www.madaboutherbs.org and click on the box on theright hand side of the page.

I hope you will nd this information useful and will start experimenting by adding afew herbs to your meals over the next few months. Using herbs does not need to becomplicated, it should be fun and easy and just relaxing to be able to do somethingdifferent from your day job!

Ready for some fun? Read on.

Madeleine GiddensMad About Herbs


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Enjoyable Uses for Basil

Add leaves to salads, soups (eg soupe au pistou), chicken, pasta and cheesedishes lovely added to feta cheese.

Goes very well with tomatoes and tomato avoured dishes, used in sauces(e.g. pesto) and with other vegetables (especially peppers, beans andaubergines).

Cream cheese mixed with basil is lovely added to baked potatoes.

As one of the softer leaved herbs, ensure you add the leaves towards the veryend of the cooking time. It is best to tear the leaves with the ngers rather thanchop. Alternatively, crush with oil in a mortar and pestle before adding to dishes.

Basil goes well with garlic eg a mix of basil, garlic, breadcrumbs and gratedlemon rind makes a delicious chicken stufng.

As well as combining well with garlic, it also blends well with chives, coriander,oregano and marjoram, mint, parsley, rosemary and thyme.

Can be used to avour vinegars or dressings.

Mixes well with raspberries! Try adding a few leaves to a smoothie.

Medical Herbalists report that basil is good for:

A source of betacarotene and vitamin C. This is a cleansing herb, mood-enhancing (calms the nervous system) and antibacterial. It is often used to treatkidney and urinary problems. It is also restorative, warming and aromatic. Itsother properties include relaxing spasms, lowering fever, improving digestion andit is also effective against bacterial infections and parasites.

If you rub the leaves onto your skin, it acts as an insect repellant and can alsobe used to relieve the itching from insect bites and stings. Similarly, a few pots inthe windowsill or on the table outside whilst having a picnic or barbeque will helpdeter ies.

An infusion of basil leaves can be drunk as a tea to aid digestion. Aninhalation may relieve colds and headaches, exhaustion, insomnia and lowspirits.

BasilOcimum basilicum


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Enjoyable uses for chives:

Just snip chives with scissors or chop with a knife and add generously todishes. If you cook them, they lose their avour.

Goes well with most things but especially salads, meat, potatoes, avocados,courgettes, cream cheese, egg dishes, sh and seafood e.g. great with potatosalad, sprinkled on top of soups, salads and omelettes.

Make chive butter to add to cooked meats on serving; melts and creates adelicious avoured sauce.

Mix with sour cream or plain yoghurt and add to baked potatoes.

Chive owers also taste wonderful; add to soup or salads for colour andavour.

Combines well with basil, parsley, tarragon, coriander and fennel.

Make chive butter and freeze it; just slice off sections when needed.

Medical Herbalists report that chives are good for:

Reducing cholesterol and blood pressure.

An antibiotic and antifungal.

Contains alicin, avonoids and phenolic acid.

Aids digestion, blood cleansing.

Good for clearing catarrh and protecting against colds.

ChivesAllium schoenoprasum syn A. sibiricum


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Enjoyable Uses for Mint

There are many types of mint, the uses below mainly refer to spearmint,applemint and peppermint, but feel free to experiment with the other varieties.

Mint sauce and jelly are the well known uses, both go well with lamb dishes.

Also used traditionally with potatoes and vegetables in the cooking water.

Tear the leaves and add to a salad for a refreshing taste.

Mix with sour cream or plain yoghurt and add to potato salad.

Goes well with apples, gooseberries and other fruits.

Can be made into a tasty herb vinegar.

Leaves can be added to iced drinks in the summer.

Peppermint tea aids digestion when taken after a meal.

Goes well with chocolate in desserts.

Blends well with dill, marjoram and oregano, paprika, parsley, cardamom,cloves, basil, ginger and thyme.

Medical Herbalists report that mint is good for:

Antiseptic, decongestant, mildly anaesthetic, anti-spasmodic, anti-inammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-parasitic and a stimulant.

Helps relieve indigestion, colic, nausea, poor appetite.

Peppermint contains vitamins B1, B2, B3 and E plus calcium, iron,magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium and zinc.

Protective and mood-enhancing herb; when applied to the skin relievesmigraine and other headaches.

The scent aids concentration.

MintMentha


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Enjoyable Uses for Parsley

Commonly used as a garnish.

Use in a bouquet garni with thyme and bay.

Flavour butters, sauces, dressings, stufngs and savoury dishes.

Plain or at leaved parsley has a stronger and some say better avour thancurly leaved parsley.

A major ingredient in Fines herbes.

Chewing raw parsley freshens the breath, especially after eating garlic!

Medical Herbalists report that parsley is good for:

Rich in vitamins A and C and Iron.

Apigenin - a avonoid that reduces allergic responses and is an effectiveantioxidant.

Relaxes spasms, stimulates the digestion and the uterus.

Antiseptic.

Reduces inammation and clears toxins.

Diuretic herb; used for treating urinary infections and uid retention.

ParsleyPetroselinum crispum


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Enjoyable Uses for Rosemary

Use sprigs for roasting, grilling or on the barbeque.

Make skewers from stripped, longer, stronger sprigs (soak in water beforecooking) or use as they are as a basting brush.

Add nely chopped leaves to soups, sauces, salads, pasta and breads suchas foccacia.

Goes well with apricots, aubergines, eggs, sh, lamb, chicken, lentils,oranges, pork, potatoes and tomatoes.

The fresh shoots can be used to avour olive oil or milk/cream or syrup to beused in puddings. Also delicious added to lemonade and other summer drinks.

Makes a wonderful oil and vinegar. Great for marinades.

An essential part of herbes de provence.

Blends well with bay, garlic, chives, mint, oregano, parsley, sage and thyme.

Medical Herbalists report that rosemary is good for:

Energising, aphrodisiac, cleansing and mood enhancing

Anti-inammatory, stimulating, antibacterial, antifungal, analgesic

Aids digestion of fats

An infusion used as a tea makes a reviving drink and can also be used as amouthwash for halitosis or a good antiseptic gargle.

RosemaryRosmarinus


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Enjoyable Uses for Sage

Add to stufngs for pork and poultry to help the digestion of fat. A commontasty combination being Sage and Onion stufng.

Add to pork sausages to avour.

Use to avour meat stews.

Lovely added to chicken dishes.

Can be used to avour breads eg focaccia or polenta.

Add a few leaves to butter and melt to make a avourful pasta sauce.

Blends well with bay, garlic, caraway, marjoram, paprika, parsley and thyme.

Use to avour vinegar, oils or make a herb jelly.

Medical Herbalists report that sage is good for:

Aiding digestion of fatty and oily foods.

Contains vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5 and C plus calcium, iron, magnesium,manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium and zinc.

Antiseptic and antifungal.

Acts as a preservative; hence its use in sausages.

Balances the female hormone system, including for hot ushes.

Relieves indigestion.

Infused and drunk as a tea helps to ease sore throats, or can be used as amouthwash or to treat colds and u.

Sagesalvia ofcinalis


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Enjoyable Uses for Thyme

Add to carrots for a wonderful avour.

Use in a bouquet garni with parsley and bay.

Withstands long, slow cooking so can be added to casseroles, soups,marinades or stocks.

Goes well with sh, chicken, lamb, pork and game, enhances stufngs used inpoultry.

Can be infused to make tea, lemon thyme makes a refreshing tea. Floweringthyme makes the best tea.

Combines well with onions, cabbage, leeks, potatoes, pulses, sweetcorn andtomatoes.

Caraway thyme goes well with beef, Orange Thyme with duck.

Blends well with parsley, bay, basil, garlic, marjoram and oregano, mint,paprika, rosemary, savory, cloves, allspice and chillies.

Medical Herbalists report that thyme is good for:

Aids digestion; helps to break down fatty foods.

Relieving coughs, colds and sore throats (it is an expectorant).

Contains vitamins B1, B2, B3 and C plus calcium, essential fatty acids, iron,magnesium, manganes, phosphorus, potassium, selenium and zinc.

Antiseptic.

Antispasmodic.

Thyme tea can also be used as a gargle or mouthwash to relieve sore throatsor gums.

Thyme tea is said to relieve a headache from a hangover.

Thymethymus


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I hope you enjoyed and found the information in this mini e-book useful to you.

I plan to create more e-books in the future so would love to receive any feedbackabout what you thought of this e-book; likes/dislikes/additional information you wouldlike to have been included, other topics you are interested in and so on. Please email:

[email protected] and let me know.

If you would like to receive our monthly e-mail newsletter packed with herb gardening,cooking and craft information together with details of herb events coming up andwebsite updates, please visit www.madaboutherbs.org/newsletter to sign up and ndout more. Thank you.

Alternatively, feel free to email me any herb related questions (sorry, not medical ones;

I am not a qualied medical herbalist, but you can visit www.nimh.org.uk for a list ofqualied herbalists) and I will include them (if you give permission) in a future newsletteror on the blog.

Happy Herbing!

Madeleine GiddensMad About Herbs


11/11


Bibliography

Jekkas Complete Herb Book by Jekka McVicar

Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Phyllis A Balch, CNC and JamesF Balch, M.D.

Superherbs for Health and Healing by Michael van Straten

Herb and Spice by Jill Norman

The Green Guide to Herb Gardening by Deborah C Harding

The RHS Encyclopaedia of Herbs by Deni Bown

Herbs and Spices A Cooks Bible by Andi Clevely, KatherineRichmond, Sallie Morris, Lesley Mackley

The Green Pharmacy by James A Duke, Ph.d.

Wild Food by Roger Phillips

Feasting on Herbs by Sue Lawrence

A Kids Herb Book by Lesley Tierra

The Herb Book by John Lust

These are just a small selection of the recommended herb booksavailable from my Amazon bookstore.

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7 Everyday Herbs Final