Cooking web notes

Using and Storing Herbs and Spices

Add some flavor to your favorite dishes with fresh herbs.

Flavorful fresh CHIVES add a mild onion-like flavor to dips, spreads, soups, salads, omelets, casseroles and many vegetables.

Use DILL to add flavor to salads, meats, sauces, vegetables, marinades, stuffing, herb butter and tomato juice. Because it can lose its flavor during heating, add dill toward the end of cooking time.

Popular MINT can be used to flavor a wide variety of dishes including salads, soups, stews, meats, vegetables, pasta, rice, cheese and egg dishes, sauces, desserts, marinades, juices and more.

ROSEMARY, a fragrant herb is a member of the mint family with a hint of lemon and pine. The silver-green needle-like leaves add delightful flavor to a variety of foods including fruits, soups, vegetables, meats, fish, stuffing, dressing, marinades and herb butter.

I am often asked, how do you store your herbs and spices?

Put fresh herbs in bottles with labels indicating what they are and the date. If you have a lot of bottles, alphabetize them on a spice rack. One of my favorite storage solutions is using a eight shelf wire unit that hangs on the backside of my pantry closet door.

Spices and Herbs should be stored in a cool, dark and dry place and out of sunlight or heat and steam sources. Storing them right beside your kitchen stove or oven is never a good idea.

I will often reuse my empty spice bottles. I handwash them, remove the old labels and let them air dry. Make sure they are completely dry before adding new contents to them. I will then apply blank labels to the front of the jars so that they are ready to go the next time I need a new jar. I store my empty jars on the bottom shelf of my spice rack unit.

So the next time you want to make some of your dishes sizzle with some fresh herbs, try some of the suggestions above.