harvesting rosemary and bay leaves: drying

Some very lovely friends came to dinner the other night and brought with them a gorgeous gift: fresh rosemary and bay leaves.  I was thrilled and immediately started pondering all the possible things I could cook with them.  In the meantime though, I'm going to dry them both.  Some more googling has revealed that, like marjoram, bay leaves acquire more flavour as they dry.  So up they went onto the wall, to replace the marjoram that's been bottled up.

The rosemary, I made into a new flower arrangement.  Apparently although rosemary can be dried, it's better in its fresh form.  I'll ponder over the next couple of days what to use it for!

harvesting my marjoram: an update

It's time to pack my marjoram away as it's dry!  It only took a bit over a week and it turns out the results of my googling are correct, it smells even stronger dry.  I've bottled it up in an old herb container and I can't wait to cook with it!  

harvesting my marjoram: dried marjoram

Today I ventured back out into the garden, this time in search of marjoram. I planted my marjoram plant about a year ago and it has grown strongly since; so strongly it's threatening to take over the herb bed.  I've decided the time has come to do something about it.

my marjoram plant

After some serious googling, I've decided that the best idea is to dry some for later use.  Apparently marjoram, unlike other herbs, improves in flavour as it's dried. It can be used in most recipes where oregano is used, including my favourite - pasta sauce. 

To prepare my marjoram for drying, I chopped some large sprigs, washed and dried them, removed any bugs (I found a few caterpillars ... I'll have to go and explore the rest of the plant for signs of more!) and hung my marjoram in a nice, cool, dry place, near my back door.  A double bonus: a wall decoration and something edible! 

drying marjoram - also doubles as a wall decoration!

Here's hoping it turns out. If it does I'll make some more. I'm thinking about giving it away as gifts.  A visit to the herb aisle at the supermarket today revealed a lot of the marjoram on sale is imported from overseas!  

harvesting my garlic chives

Whilst I impatiently wait for this year's crops to be ready for harvesting, I thought I'd experiment with some recipes using herbs from my herb garden.


Last year I created a herb garden and planted out a whole lot of herbs including rosemary, sage, lemon thyme, marjoram, mint, lemon grass and parsley. One of my biggest successes so far has been two large bunches of garlic chives which produce more than enough for my needs, despite my love of Chinese cooking.

I try and aim to cut back my chives up to four times a year (once per season) as apparently this ensures that they never get too old and lose their flavour. However, I haven't had a chance to cut back my chives for a while and they've gone a bit wild, flowering beautifully but taking over the herb patch. 

To harvest my chives, I cut them about 1-2 inches above the ground.  I then rinse them, removing the flower stalks and any dead (brown) stalks.  I make a flower arrangement out of the flower stalks.