Preserving Lemon Verbena

Last year I bought a lemon verbena plant and overwintered it in the basement. This summer it’s really taken off so I have an abundance of it. I’ve been looking for ways to use this lovely lemony herb so that none of it goes to waste. It’s a wonderful way to bring some summer flavor into the long cold winter months here in Ohio. One of the best ways I’ve found is by add diced fresh leaves to recipes, like scones, cakes or cookies, but you can’t do that in winter. Lemon verbena dries beautifully and retains it’s flavor, so you can easily add some to your winter teas if you have a stash of dried leaves in the pantry.

Lemon verbena cooler is especially refreshing after a hot afternoon or gardening. To make: pick a handful of lemon verbena leaves, tear or chop and add to a pitcher full of water, steep overnight and enjoy the next day. If you like a little sweetness, add sugar before drinking. You can also make lemon verbena syrup to use in mixed drinks, as flavoring for ice cream, desserts and just about anywhere a lemony flavor would be welcome. I find that lemon verbena is quite delicious when added to jams and jellies. Simply add a few leaves when cooking down the berries, strain out and process as desired.

Lemon verbena can also be used to infuse sugar with a lemony flavor. I can think of many places a lemony sugar would be welcome, particularly in ice cream, iced tea, or other sweet treats like cookies and cakes. Of course you can also add a few vanilla beans to make a vanilla lemon sugar.

Lemon verbena leaves retain their scent when dried, so you can dry the leaves to use for flavoring and for potpourri to scent your home. You can also make a lemon verbena hair rinse by steeping a few lemon verbena leaves in a cup of hot water, then using to rinse hair after washing and conditioning. This leaves your hair with a wonderful lemony fresh scent.

I’m also experimenting with make lemon verbena liqueur. I’m steeping 1 1/2 cups of chopped lemon verbena in 4 cups of organic vodka. After 2 weeks I’ll be adding 2 cups of organic evaporated cane juice. I’m thinking this will be a great Christmas gift for friends that enjoy mixed beverages, being a rather dry person myself I won’t be consuming any.

I also made some lemon verbena syrup. Heat one cup of water until hot, then add 3/4 cup of evaporated cane juice and dissolve. Then added 1/2 cup of chopped lemon verbena leaves. Steep for an 30 minutes or so, then strain and refrigerate or can. Enjoy as a sweetener for teas, sauces, sweets or wherever you want a hint of lemon flavor.

What’s your favorite herb to save up for winter use?

Growing Herbs for Soothing Teas

I’m a big fan of hot beverages, even in the summer. Most of the time you’ll find me with a cup of coffee or hot tea, especially during those cold winter months here in NE Ohio. When it comes to tea, I usually prefer herbal teas of all kinds over black tea. I like black tea iced, but not particularly served hot. As I’ve gotten more and more into gardening and growing more of my food, naturally I started growing some of my own herbs for tea. One of my favorite herbal teas is chamomile, it’s particularly good in the evenings since it’s soothing and calming (especially for people like me with slight insomniac tendencies). It’s also a wonderful herb for aiding in digestion, nothing cures stomach duress like a nice warm cup of chamomile ginger tea.

Last year my chamomile didn’t germinate well, and I ended up with one one small plant. It produced a nice crop of flowers, but not nearly enough for the amount of tea I drink in a year’s time. I had a quarter cup or less of dried blossoms by the end of the year. This year I decided I’d grow as much as I could, and boy to I have a crop of chamomile! I’ve been faithfully harvesting it every couple days, drying it on a plate in the attic and storing it in a jar. Happily I’ve been watching the quart jar fill up knowing that I’ll have plenty to get me through the coming winter. I may be able to drink chamomile tea every night before bed.

I still have a ton of chamomile blooming in the garden, so I’ll keep harvesting. I may be able to get an extra pint of dried blossoms. The extra will be used for watering my seedlings in the spring. I’ve read it’s particularly good at helping with fungal diseases and dampening off. I’ll make sure to keep you posted on this experiment come seed starting season. In the coming years I’ll be adding more and more tea herbs to my garden as I expand my flowerbeds and get rid of plants that don’t thrive. I haven’t decided which ones to add next, but I’m sure I’ll find some good ones from Richter’s. I’ve also been experimenting with growing tropical herbs in pots as houseplants. Currently I’m starting ginger and lemongrass (more on that later).

Are you a hot or a cold beverage person?

Planning Ahead

Many of your have probably heard about the Slow Food Movement. This movement was started: to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world. Growing your own food is a great way to learn to be more mindful of what you eat. Sometimes I wonder how a grocery store can sell a tomato for only 99 cents a pound when I know what goes into growing them.

I was thinking about slow food earlier this week, when I planted some sage in the garden. My main reason for planting sage was to season our Thanksgiving meal in late November, four and a half months from now. Sure I could buy some sage at the grocery store to season my stuffing and turkey, but I know this will be much tastier. I’ll certainly enjoy the sage in the stuffing more, knowing that I started it from tiny seeds, nurtured the plant, harvested and dried it, all well before Thanksgiving. Not to mention the celery and onions used in the stuffing will be homegrown, the bread with be homemade, and the turkey will be pastured on a local farm! A Slow Food Thanksgiving will be enjoyed with my family!

Has growing food helped you become more mindful of food?
Do you appreciate food more knowing what goes into it?

Quote of the Day: William Carlos Williams

“In summer, the song sings itself.”

~ William Carlos Williams


The other evening I was out trying to capture the beauty of a summer evening. I planted a ton of chamomile this year, so I would have a great harvest for teas. I’m disappointed that the plants are tall and leggy, and not looking too nice in the location I have them. However the other night the light was just right and they were definitely singing the song of summer. I think this captured the mood that evening beautifully.

What’s singing to you in your garden right now?

Loving Fresh Herbs

One of the things I love about spring/summer/fall, is that I can use tons of fresh herbs when I cook. There’s nothing better than a roasted chicken with fresh lemon thyme, or fresh chives added to a final dish. I do keep a few herbs as potted houseplants for winter use, but the herbs just taste so much fresher and better when they’re outside getting some real sunlight and rain.

I think my most favorite herb would have to be lemon thyme. It’s so fresh and delicious, tasty on anything I add it to. I use this herb all the time in so many things, it’s especially good added fresh to rice and vegetable dishes.

Each and every year I add a new herb or two to my gardens. This past week I found a fuzzy leaf oregano ‘Dittany of Crete’, not sure what this will be like for eating texture wise, but I do love the way fuzzy leaved plants look.

What’s your favorite garden fresh herb?