Herb garden visit ‘sowed the seed’

Everyday herbalist Jane Wigglesworth. PHOTO: LOTTIE HEDLEY

Writer Jane Wrigglesworth has been a fan of herbs since a chance visit to a herb garden on a family holiday. She tells Rebecca Fox about her favourite herbs.

Are herbs best served raw or cooked?

As a 10-year-old Jane Wrigglesworth was "blown away" when she discovered there are so many herbs which can do so many different things.

It was during a visit to a herb garden while on a family holiday that Wrigglesworth made the discovery but it was not until many years later that she began a real love affair with the plants that impart flavour to food or are used medicinally.

"That sowed the seed, you might say."

It only "bloomed" when she was 37 and ended up in hospital with a bleeding stomach and no iron count. After blood transfusions, her doctor told her she would probably have to take iron tablets, which made her nauseous, for the rest of her life.

"That did not sit well for me."

After two years of her iron count continuing to fluctuate, she "googled" to see if herbs could possibly help and discovered parsley is high in iron and vitamin C, which is needed for the body to absorb iron.

Nasturtium flowers add a peppery bite to salads. PHOTO: LOTTIE HEDLEY

So she began eating raw parsley with everything and at the same time drinking camomile tea for the stress. Although she did not know it at the time it is also good for reducing inflammation.

"My iron levels started to rise. It was an eye-opener. I was full on into it."

Twelve years of growing, investigating and writing about herbs later, Wrigglesworth has distilled her knowledge into a handy guide on growing and using herbs, The Everyday Herbalist.

She admits it was not an easy task. The book includes descriptions of her top 30 favourite herbs but she had 60 to begin with. Wrigglesworth uses them to cook with but also in beauty creams, balms, tinctures and teas.

"I don’t have any meals without herbs."

In her book she says we could learn a thing or two from our ancestors when it comes to flavouring foods as most of them used herbs, foraged or cultivated, powdered or whole, as a matter of course.

In Tudor times a fresh salad could easily contain 30 different herbs and flowers, and a salad dressing, or floral vinegar, half a dozen herbs or their blooms.

Bundles of herbs were added to the cooking pot, and cooks would pickle and preserve herbs so they could be enjoyed throughout the winter months.

Add fresh clover to salads for a sweet, mild flavour. PHOTO: LOTTIE HEDLEY

Through into the 17th century in the European tradition, pickles and preserves were on the daily menu. Broom buds pickled in vinegar and salt echoed the taste of capers, for example, and pickled purslane, mixed with fennel seeds and allspice berries, proved a healthy side dish high in vitamins, minerals and omega-3 fatty acids (not that our forebears knew about those).

These days it is so easy to buy bottled capers that we have largely lost the art of pickling flower buds and herbs, but it was so easy, according to The Compleat Cook, published in 1658.

"Take your Buds before they be yellow on the top, make a brine of Vinegar and Salt, which you must do onely by shaking it together till the Salt be melted, then put in your Buds, and keepe stirred once in a day till they be sunk within the Vinegar, be sure to keep close covered.

"Nothing to it. You can pickle nasturtium buds in the same fashion."

Wrigglesworth’s favourite herb, other than parsley, is lemon myrtle for its "amazing lemon flavour" and its medicinal value as an anti-bacterial and anti-viral.

"It’s an amazing herb. It can be used in savoury and sweet."

She loves Asian food so uses it a lot in those dishes along with lemon thyme, lemon balm, lemongrass and kaffir lime, all of which she grows in her Auckland garden.

One of the great things about herbs apart from their versatility is being able to interchange them depending on what you have on hand — if you do not have French tarragon try fennel or dill or if you do not have kaffir lime leaves try lemon verbena.

"Crush them up so they release their essential oils and medicinal qualities as well."

She also uses dried herbs — dried in small bundles in an airy dry room out of direct sunlight — in a variety of teas such as her favourite camomile, which while calming is also good for digestion and sleep.

The other is the ability to grow them no matter how small a space is available as they are easily grown in containers. Some like more sun than others so pots can be moved to where conditions better suit them.

The herb Wrigglesworth finds indispensable is calendula, also known as pot marigold, which she describes as a "super hero"which has a particular affinity for the skin, easing rashes and itchiness among other things.

She dries the flower heads and infuses them into sweet almond oil to create a calendula oil, which goes in any balm or salve she makes.

Shiso (also known as Perilla). PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Dunedin chefs’ favourite herbs

Hannes Bareiter, Titi

Herbs are essential for us in the kitchen, for savoury and sweet dishes. They provide an easy way to balance flavours and take the taste to the next level.

I couldn’t reduce myself to just one, so here some of my favourites.

- Rosemary

Easy to grow; once established it hardly needs any maintenance. Different varieties to suit several growing conditions. Easy to use in cooking and a fantastic pairing to a lot of ingredients.

- Lemon verbena

Grows well with low maintenance in most parts of the country. Excellent health benefits. Great for sweet and some savoury dishes. Makes a delicious tea as well.

- French tarragon (not Russian tarragon, big flavour difference)

A little harder to find and to grow, doesn’t like the cold. Amazing light flavours of liquorice, anise and fennel, that go beautifully with white fish, chicken, potatoes, cauliflower …

- Sweet Woodruff

Once established it will grow and come back every spring with pretty white flowers. Predominantly used as medicine, but also amazing to use in tea, punch, syrup, milk and cream-based dessert and fantastic to pair with summer berries and rhubarb.

Greg Piner, Marbecks

Thyme springs to mind. It’s an incredibly versatile herb that can be used in multiple dishes, even a thyme ice cream with candied bacon for something completely different. One of my favourite types of thyme is Dunstan thyme, which grows wild all throughout Central Otago.

When driving through Central on a warm summer’s day you can smell it in the air, it’s a nostalgic scent, bringing back memories from when I lived in Queenstown, gathering fresh thyme from the rocky hills and adding it to many a dish, roast lamb being a staple.

Sam Gasson, Moiety

Shiso, also known as perilla, is a versatile herb that is commonly used in Japanese, Korean, and Southeast Asian cuisine.

It has a unique flavour that is a combination of mint, basil, and anise, with a slightly spicy and earthy taste, which adds depth and complexity to a range of dishes like sushi, sashimi, soups, stews, salads, and cocktails.

Shiso can be used in both fresh and dried forms, and its leaves can also be pickled. I prefer purple shiso, also known as akajiso, due to its vibrant colour, ranging from dark purple to reddish pink, which adds contrast to dishes.

The flavour of purple shiso is slightly milder and less astringent than green shiso. For example, I like shiso with raw seafood, such as frying the leaves and making a puree to go with kingfish sashimi.

Rosemary and kawakawa hash browns

My good friend Leigh shared her hash brown recipe, which uses fresh rosemary and olive oil. I went one step further and used kawakawa-infused olive oil for extra savoury pizzazz, but ordinary olive oil is also delicious. See below for methods of infusing oils.

2 cups grated potato (or kūmara)

2 tsp fresh chopped rosemary

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp kawakawa-infused olive oil

Cold infused oil. PHOTO: JANE WRIGGLESWORTH

Vegetable oil for frying

Method

Squeeze the moisture out of the grated potato using a clean tea towel. (If you’re using kūmara, it might stain the tea towel.)

Place the grated potato in a mixing bowl, add the rosemary and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with the kawakawa-infused olive oil. Toss to mix.

Heat a little oil in a frying pan and add spoonfuls of mixture.

Fry lightly for about 5 minutes and flip once to cook the other side.

COLD INFUSED OILS

The oil-soluble components of herbs can be extracted by infusing the herbs in oil, such as olive, sunflower or almond oil. This is usually done by cold infusion but you need patience — it takes several weeks for the herbs to infuse properly.

I prefer to use dried herbs. With fresh herbs there is a danger of the oil turning rancid from the moisture in the herb. If you want to use fresh herbs, leave them to wilt for 24-48 hours first.

Any freshly picked petals should be allowed to dry for 12 hours before use.

Half-fill a glass jar with dried herbs (or three-quarters to completely fill with wilted fresh herbs). Fill the jar with olive (or other) oil, stopping about 3cm from the top. Stir well, screw the lid on tightly, then place the jar in a warm room out of direct sunlight for 4-8 weeks. Shake the jar gently (turn it upside down a couple of times) daily or every other day.

Strain through a fine muslin cloth, squeezing out as much liquid as possible.

Pour the infused oil into a dark glass bottle, label with the name and date, and store in a cool, dark location.

Lemon myrtle cookies

These delightfully crisp cookies have a subtle flavour. For your first batch, start with 2 teaspoons of lemon myrtle powder to test your preference. If you want a more lemony flavour, add another teaspoon to your next batch. Note that these biscuits spread in cooking so you need two baking trays.