Prepare and Use Fresh Herbs

     I love to grow, prepare and use fresh herbs every day. Herbs are easy to grow from seed, indoors and out and they are thankfully mostly disease and pest resistant. There are many health benefits associated with the use of herbs.  Herbs also make foods and drinks more enjoyable when prepared and used correctly.
   
     I will show you how to clean and prepare several herbs which I currently have growing in my garden. I hope you enjoy.

The herbs I will show you how to prepare our common, easy to grow & flavorful.
Mint
Lavender
Fennel
Parsley
Dill
Oregano
Chives
Rosemary
The preparation for many other herbs are similar to the above herbs.  Once you are able to prepare these herbs try others!

Wash the herbs with cool water, in a colander. Wash them gently looking for dirt, debris and garden critters. Pick off any garden critters and replace the beneficial ones (such as ladybugs and worms) back in the garden.

Gently pat the herbs dry, be sure not to bruise or break the herbs setting will maintain their natural beauty and delicious flavor.

Cut the herbs off their stems, leaving the large tough leaves at the base. For the chives pull away the outer two leaves.

I use clean kitchen shears to cut most of my herbs. This is a quick and efficient way to cut large amounts of herbs.

The Lavender is a wonderful and unique herb. My favorite way to prepare this is to grind the Lavender with white sugar in my coffee grinder. The Lavender sugar can be used in coffee, on top of cookies or muffins.

Mint can be crushed with a mortar and  pestle to release the natural oils for drinks like mojitos and mint julips.

I hope that these instructions will allow you to use more herbs in your everyday cooking and baking!