Inexpensive Fresh Herbs

I come from one of those Southern families that seasoned everything with bacon fat and that's it. When I moved out of Mom & Dad's and started cooking on my own, one of the first things I discovered in the grocery store was the spice aisle. To me it is a magical place with little bottles that hold the secret to great flavor. With a pinch of this and a dab of that you can make plain dishes so much better. I also discovered why my Mom didn't cook with them; at three to four bucks an ounce those little bottles where pure gold. As a struggling college student sticking to cooking with bacon fat made a lot of sense to my budget. However, being young and daring, ignoring my budget and going for it was the course I took. I built up my dried herb collection slowly buying one or two a month. I began cooking with them slowly, often finding my way to the taste combinations that chefs use by trial and error and having a grand time doing it.

After I graduated from college and began to make a little money, the fresh foods section of the grocery store beckoned me and I discovered packaged fresh herbs. When I first noticed them I also noticed the price around $2.50 a package. I thought, "That's crazy I'll stick to the dried, thank you very much." But they called and my more reckless nature won out. I tried fresh rosemary and sage; I was hooked. There is no comparison dried herbs don't even come close to the fresh stuff. I still think that dried herbs have their place, but when it comes to most of my cooking I'd always rather use the fresh stuff. The price is a problem though and keeping herbs fresh in the frig is also an issue. I've found that they go bad quickly. The solution to both of these problems: grow your own.

Go to your local plant nursery and buy Thyme and Rosemary plants. Pick up Parsley, Cilantro and Basil seeds at your local grocer or feed store and plant them. No really, it's that simple. What I've found is that most herbs are weeds that taste good. They don't take a lot of effort to grow. The hardest part is finding a sunny spot in your house or yard to grow them. If I can do it you can do it too. Trust me I have the biggest, black thumb you ever saw. It's actually reassuring, I've found something even I can't kill. Just stick them in a pot, water them now and again and watch them grow. I have fresh herbs at my finger tips all the time and green things around the house.

Basil and Cilantro are annuals, so I do have to plant them each spring, but once they get going they produce more leaves than I can keep up with in my cooking. So at the end of summer I pick my plants clean, put the leaves into the blender and make paste from them. I put the paste into little ice trays and freeze them. Then I have fresh Basil and Cilantro all year round for the price of a package of seeds.