Your Themed Kitchen Herb Garden
I really like learning to cook meals from other countries, especially a couple of the best Mexican dinners. Do you enjoy cooking yummy international dinners? Like me, you grow a lot of the ingredients if you begin your own themed kitchen herb garden.
Just about any plant you will need for your flavorful dishescan be grown in your herb garden.
You do not have to have a special spot for your themed kitchen herb garden. You can raise them in containers or in your usual garden bed.
Look no further than these recommendations for your own themed kitchen herb garden:
- Asian: There are so many different cultures and folks in Asia, such as Thai, Chinese, Indian and Vietnamese, so how could the food be boring? Try cultivating lemongrass, cayenne pepper, cardamom and anise in your Asian kitchen herb garden. Try the licorice taste of anise in your next Indian meal, or use its warm sweetness in your baked goods. You can brew it with your tea and add it to your cookie dough for a special treat. Although it used to be pretty popular in American cooking, it kind of died out, but in the last few years has been growing in popularity in the kitchen.
- Mexican: Would you like to have a bit of a Mexican herb fiesta? Some spicy beans and rice or nachos can fast hit the place. Can you even make a real Mexican dish without Cayenne pepper, Cilantro and Garlic?
- Italian: Just about everybody I know has their favorite Italian meal. My favorite is lasagna, of course. Among my favorite herb plants to try in your Italian meals are 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 or even roast it with some olive oil to eat it by itself. Be warned, the longer you cook garlic, the milder the taste becomes so do not overcook it!
- Middle East: If you haven’t tried any of the exciting and flavorful foods from the Middle East and Northern Africa, you are missing some fantastic dinners. There is such variety in the array of herbs used in Middle Eastern cuisine. Add chick peas, couscous and figs to your pita and herb yogurt sauce for something extra special. These herb plants are often to be found on the ingredient lists for Middle Eastern dishes: cardamom, garlic, parsley, rosemary and saffron.
- German: You don’t have to wait for October to cook up an Octoberfest dish at home if you have the right herb plants used in German cooking. For authentic German dishes, use these herb plants: chives, dill, horseradish, sage and thyme. Horseradish, which is in the mustard family, is a fabulous condiment, opening the sinuses while adding tang to the taste buds. Use it to add some extra twang to beef, fish, cream cheese spreads, potato salad, mayonnaise and meat loaf.
One of the fabulous things about herb gardening it that herbs are like a gift that keeps on giving. If you remove a few leaves from your sage plant, it can grow back. Oftentimes it can 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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