Your Themed Kitchen Herb Garden
I collect cookbooks and like to experiment with interesting dishes from other culture like a Mexican mole. Do you enjoy trying mouth-watering international dinners? Like me, you grow a lot of the ingredients if you begin your own themed kitchen herb garden.
You can raise the major herb plants in your own garden and have the freshest ingredients to add to your recipes, or experiment on your own.
A themed kitchen garden can be grown in the ground or you can cultivate your themed kitchen garden in pots.
Here are some recommendations on growing your own themed kitchen garden:
- Asian: From Thai and Vietnamese to Indian and Chinese, Asian cuisine has a lot of tastes and spices to choose from. Some great herb plants to plant in your Asian-themed garden are lemongrass, cayenne pepper, cardamom and anise. Try the licorice flavor of anise in your next Indian meal, or try its warm sweetness in your baked goods. You can also use it in tea as well as in baking a savory-sweet cookie. The growing popularity of Asian cuisine has helped it fall back into favor in the US in recent years.
- Mexican: Not a week goes by when I do not chow down on a Mexican meal. Some spicy beans and rice or nachos will fast hit the place. Can you even make an authentic Mexican meal without Cayenne pepper, Cilantro and Garlic?
- Italian: Just about everybody I know has their favorite Italian meal. Mine is lasagna, of course. The best I ever had was my mom’s which included all these fabulous herb plants: basil, fennel, parsley, garlic, marjoram, oregano, rosemary and thyme. You can add garlic to all your favorite Italian dinners and savor the oniony flavor! You can add garlic to your mashed potatoes and even roast it with some olive oil to eat it by itself. Don’t overcook your garlic because it loses its taste the longer it cooks.
- Middle East: If you haven’t tried any of the exciting and flavorful foods from the Middle East and Northern Africa, you’re missing some awesome dishes. There’s such variety in the array of herb plants used in Middle Eastern cooking. Add chick peas, couscous and figs to your pita and herb yogurt sauce for something super special. Try these herb plants to spice up your Middle Eastern meals: cardamom, garlic, parsley, rosemary and saffron.
- German: You can have your own Oktoberfest any time you like if you have got all the right German herb plants. For authentic German dishes, use these herbs: chives, dill, horseradish, sage and thyme. As a member of the mustard family, horseradish is a condiment herb that you can use for extra flavor. It can also open up your sinuses! Horseradish is a fantastic addition to your dinners. Try horseradish in mayonnaise and potato salad. Horseradish will also go well in cream cheese spreads and meat loaf.
Unless you use too much of your plant in cooking, your herb can keep growing and give you more ingredients for other dinners. When you remove a few leaves from your sage plant, it can grow back. Oftentimes it will grow back bigger and fuller than it was before.
Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.
Here is more information on Fresh Herb Gardening. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.
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