I know what you’re thinking, Harvest time? In MAY!!!? That’s it, she’s lost it! I JUST got my cool crops in the ground!
WAIT! Stick with me. Most of our initial gardening chores are done by now. Beds have been set up, soils have been amended, plants are in and growing happily. But May is a great time to start harvesting from, wait for it, . . . The Herb Garden!
That’s right. Being an avid herbalist, my herb garden is planted with mostly perennials who have been up for over a month now. While all my veggies are happily growing and soaking in the sunshine, things in the herb garden are moving at a rapid pace.
The first herbs to pike their heads out of the snow are the chives. I do square foot gardening in the herb bed as well, so I have a nice square foot of chives growing. I love using chives all year long and one of the complaints I hear, especially from gardeners in the northern climates, is: I WISH I could have the taste of fresh herbs in the winter! It’s true. Nothing is quite so lovely as having the smell and taste of fresh herbs in that winter soup or stew as the temperatures dip and the snow piles up outside.
Well, no worries! We will talk about all the different ways to harvest and preserve herbs in a fall article, but when the herbs are ready now, we need to move!
Back to the chives! They put up the most beautiful lavender flowers, usually the end of May and the first part of June. These only last for a short time, then they’re gone, so we need to capture the taste at the peak. I use chives in several ways, but the best way to use these flowers is in chive vinegar. This is a wonderful addition to your cooking, as a salad dressing or on “Chips” or as you call them here in the colonies, ”French Fries”! I grow garlic chives as well, so get the additional benefit of the taste of garlic in my creations.
This is so simple. Cut your chive blossoms in the morning, after the dew has evaporated, but before the sun gets too hot. I usually cut a bit of the stem to help with the flavoring. Bring them inside. Find a nice, decorative bottle, or use a pint canning jar. Place the blossoms in the jar and cover with White Wine Vinegar. Don’t use cooking wine or distilled vinegar or even apple cider vinegar. The White wine vinegar has a more subtle taste and allows the taste of the chives to come through more thoroughly. Now, cork or put a lid on the container and set it in your sunniest window or on your porch where it will get plenty of sun. Just like sun tea. Wait two weeks, strain off the blossoms, and you will have the most beautiful pink vinegar! So tasty and no calories! We all love that in the summer. For an even nicer touch, or as gifts for friends, go to the discount store and get some little decorative bottles with corks or flip top lids. Put some fresh chive blossoms in, add some of your already pink vinegar, a pretty ribbon or some burlap with a tag and bless them with a healthy, beautiful gift from your garden.
The herbs keep growing, so I harvest them about once every two or three weeks. To keep them fresh, I put them in glasses or even flower vases with a little water in the bottom out on my counter. They will last for up to two weeks this way, so every time I need fresh herbs for my cooking, they are right there for me to snip off and use.
Another favorite method for preserving the herbs that maintains the fresh herb flavor is by freezing them. I chop them fine, put them in ice trays, freeze, then store them in plastic bags. Come wintertime, I go in and take out a cube and add it to the soup I’m making and VOILA! Fresh herb taste in the middle of winter.
I use 1 Tablespoon of fresh herb in each compartment. Remember, in recipes the ratio of dried to fresh is 1:3. So if the recipe calls for 1 tsp of dried herb, I will use 3 tsp or 1 Tbls of fresh. Or one ice cube.
You can also freeze your fresh herbs in oil. It will take a little longer, but they will freeze. Pack them up in plastic bags and you are ready for winter! Remember to label the bags. All herbs look the same when they are chopped!
Trust me on this, you are going to want to have some of this in your refrigerator. So take advantage of the early harvest in the herb garden. Clipping your herbs is good for them and will make them stronger and keep them from going to seed as well.
Until next month, keep em green and growing!
Karen
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