| Eat Local - Herbs & Spices |
If you eat local you'll find yourself cooking more from scratch using raw ingredients and eating less processed food. Using more raw ingredients means that you need to add the flavourings to your food.
So one of the first jobs, if you're going to eat local and enjoy the experience, is to get your herbs and spices cupboard stocked up and ready. |
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If you're going to grow any of your own food I would start with herbs because:
- they don't take a lot of room
- don't need a lot of care
- are quite expensive to buy
- taste amazing fresh
They have fascinated me for years. Dad despaired of me growing "noxious weeds" like Fennel, Tansy, Horehound and Borage in my earliest gardens.
But I'm still doing it. You can cook with them, make teas from them and they all have fascinating different properties and histories. |
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The tray of pots on the left are those that I grow. The ones on the right are those I buy.
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| Ones I Grow |
Ones I Buy |
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme
Basil
Bay Leaves
Mint
French Tarragon
Oregano
Sweet Marjoram
Stevia
Chervil
Lemongrass
Kaffir Lime Leaves |
Garlic
Chives
Cumin
Coriander
Yellow Mustard
Saffron
Chilli
Dill
Fennel
Parsley
Juniper Berries
Galangal
Caraway
Horseradish
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Ground Tumeric
Cloves
Nutmeg
Star Anise
Vanilla Beans
Root Ginger
Allspice Berries
Cinnamon Sticks
Fenugreek
White Peppercorns
Black Peppercorns
Paprika
Cardamom
Wasabi |
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Processing Herbs
For most of the Nelson spring and summer you can guarantee fresh herbs in your garden. Over the winter months stocks dwindle and it's good to have a few stored away.
Not all herbs are great dried and put in little pots. I find freezing parsley, chives, coriander, mint, basil, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves to be a better way to preserve these flavours over winter than drying them. |
The rest of my herbs I cut big in bunches and hang them in my laundry to dry out each Autumn then crush them into pots when they're dry.
When I'm growing for the seeds as well as the leaves eg. - Dill, Caraway, Cumin, Coriander and Mustard - I let the plant flower and set it it's seeds.
When they start to dry off I put brown paper bags over them secured with rubberbands so the seed continues to ripen but the birds don't get it and it doesn't fall to the ground.
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Home dried herbs have a lot more flavour than those little packets in the shops - which taste like the bits of paper in a hole punch by comparison. |
I also use the dashboard of the truck to dry herbs on. Makes it smell nice.
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Garlic I pull out at Christmas and dry on the bean fence until I can plait it and hang it in the back porch. It is one of the easiest herbs to grow. Save a quarter back each year and plant it again in June.
Basil I plant in 3 crops, 1 outside in Spring which is ready to harvest with the tomatoes and 2 in the tunnel house in late Summer and late Autumn to make a supply of pesto for the winter with.
The secret to growing great basil is heat and water. |
My Favourite Pesto Recipe
I use roasted pumpkin seeds instead of pricey pine nuts in this pesto recipe.
1 Cup Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
2 Tablespoons Grated Parmesan Cheese
4 Cloves Garlic
2 Cups of Basil Leaves
1 Cup of Parley Leaves
4 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
4 Teaspoons Lemon Zest
1 Cup extra virgin olive oil.
Chop it all up or whiz it in the food processor until it's still chunky. Put it in screw top jars and cover with olive oil to store in the pantry or freeze it in ice-cube trays for use over winter. |
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We can't forget Salt ...
Salt's had a bit of bad press of late but our bodies need it. Have you ever watched stock demolish a salt lick in a paddock? They know. Salt gives us Sodium and Chloride which we use for all sorts of vital functions (look it up). |
We have one of the purest and largest solar powered salt producers in the world right on our doorstep. The Lake Grassmere Salt Flats just out of Blenheim.
Some of it gets Iodine added to it to save us all from getting goiters and cretinism (not working in some cases) but you can also buy pure and natural sea salt which is nothing but what's left after the sea water has evaporated.
Buying pure Marlborough Sea Salt Flakes in little plastic packets is expensive. Buy a sack of it from Trents Food Wholesalers in Butler St. Keep it somewhere dry. It doesn't go off and you won't have to buy salt again for ages, if ever. |
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So there you have it - a rough guide to eating local herbs and spices. And if, at the end of the day, you don't want to grow your own then we're fortunate enough to have some excellent herb growers in the region - whose products are available at markets and supermarkets.
Tasman Bay Herbs is one to look out for. Spray free herbs grown in Motueka and available in most supermarkets. |
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