Category: fresh herbs

Herbs and Spring

When spring is beginning, the herbs are sprouting, and the first young vegetables are harvested. Now is the time to relieve the body after the long winter – with everything that nature offers in these weeks. Wild garlic, dandelion, sorrel, chervil and parsley are among the herbs that can already be found on the markets. They not only add the special extra to many dishes, but also get the metabolism going. After all, they contain valuable essential oils, vitamins, minerals, protein and omega-3 fatty acids. In addition, they contain bitter substances that help the liver and gall bladder to detoxify the organism. Even small amounts of these aromatic plants enhance every dish in two ways. “Our food should be, above all, one thing now: light and full of vital substances,” says Silvia Bürkle, head nutritionist at Metabolic Balance.

Spring Herbal Drink

It’s time for a spring cleaning the bitter way! A spring cure rich in bitter substances stimulates the metabolism in a natural way. This wonderful herbal drink shows you how delicious it can taste.

Ingredients (1 serving):
5 dandelion leaves
Handful of parsley
Handful of chervil
5 leaves goutweed
Salt and black pepper
1/2 tablespoon of oil
1 cup (250 ml) milk, soy milk or oat milk

Preparation:
Wash, pluck and finely chop the herbs. Then add everything to a blender, season and add oil and milk. Puree the whole thing finely, serve in a beautiful glass with ice and garnish with more herbs if desired. Delicious!

Cold Remedy

Thyme is one of the best known medicinal herbs for colds. The essential oils that are responsible for its typical smell and taste make the herb one of the most effective natural antibiotics. Our secret tip for all those who have got a cold: thyme. It is the best to take it as a tea or lotion to fight every cold. 
For brewing a cup of tea, you only need a few sprigs of thyme. Simply tie them together into a small bunch and hang them into a large cup. Pour boiling hot water over it, let it steep covered for 10 minutes and enjoy a cup several times a day.

Fresh Herbs

Fresh herbs are a great way to add flavor and variety to meals! A simple tomato can taste completely different when paired with basil or roasted potatoes taste earthy and flavorful with rosemary! No matter what herbs you pick, it is hard to go wrong!

Not only do herbs add delicious flavor but they also have amazing nutritional and health benefits. Today we are showcasing a hearty, earthy, and aromatic herb: rosemary.

Rosemary has excellent immune boosting benefits as it contains antioxidants and anti-inflammatory substances. It can increase circulation, support digestion, help eliminate toxins from the body and reduce stress. In the kitchen, it is a fabulously versatile herb and goes well with many dishes. The easiest way is simply by adding it to any roasted dish such as chicken, potatoes, or mixed root vegetables. Even simply adding lemon and rosemary on top of salmon before baking it can transform the dish! If this has not convinced you enough, rosemary is also very easy to grow in your garden or indoors in a small pot.

Herb-Crusted Cod

Today we give you a wonderful recipe: herb-crusted cod (Phase-3-Recipe)

Ingredients for 1 serving:
Protein: 1 serving cod
Complex Carbs: 1 serving vegetables (celery, paprika, chicory, carrot),
1 serving rye crisp bread
Herbs: wild garlic (ramson) or Asian garlic chives, parsley. thyme
Spices: salt, ground pepper, 1/2 tsp. mustard, vegetable broth (powder e.g., Seitenbacher), 1 TBsp. olive oil

Preparation:
Wash fish with cold water and pat dry. Season with salt and ground pepper and brush with mustard powder. Wash the vegetables and cut them into strips. Gently sauté in olive oil and season with vegetable powder. Place the vegetables in an ovenproof dish. Carefully place the fish on top and cook in the pre-heated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 10 minutes [convection oven only heat to 300°F (150°C)]. Crush the crispbread using a food processor or put crisp bread in a plastic bag and crushing with a rolling pin. Rinse and finely chop herbs and add to the crushed crispbread, add some oil and spread it on the fish fillet. Place everything into the oven for another 5 minutes until the crust is nicely brown and crisp.

Enjoy!

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How to Use Lavender

Are you ready for something a bit different? We love the use of lavender in the kitchen!

The famed French aromatic spice ‘Herbs de Provence’ has at its heart lavender and without lavender it simply wouldn’t be the same. Combined with the other herbs growing wild in Provence, such as thyme, rosemary, oregano, marjoram and savory, lavender gives a very special addition to so many vegetable and meat dishes. We love lavender added to sheep’s cheese when marinated in oil. MB 02-03 - Lavendel

Even award-winning cuisine has discovered the use of lavender in lamb dishes or desserts getting a slightly tart flavor from the delicate flowers. 

We suggest you try a lavender vinegar for crisp summer salads. Simply add a handful of lavender flowers to 750 ml white wine vinegar and leave in a cool, dark place for about two weeks. You can then strain the vinegar and pour into smaller, dark colored bottles.

Delicious!

Born to be a Super Herb

MB 09-18-2019
Chervil … sounds like a delicious stew from grandma’s time and also tastes like “home”. It is more at home in the European Kitchen and the popular kitchen herb belongs to the umbelliferae family. Sowing chervil in the garden begins in the frost-free period in March. It’s a fast-growing and particularly aromatic herb before flowering. If the plant is pruned back regularly, plenty of fresh aromatic shoots will grow quickly. Chervil smells and tastes of anise and fennel and can be universally used in our kitchen. It tastes particularly well in soups, sauces, fish and meat dishes.

Bay Leaves – Born to be a Kitchen Star

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Bay leaves are a well-known and popular spice for all meat-based soups, and sauces. It goes beautifully with beef, game meat, and also for the pickling of cucumbers and sauerkraut. Want to know more? 

Bay leaves are also known as Bay Laurel and grow as a bush or tree everywhere in the Mediterranean. Its young, freshly picked leaves are dried immediately after harvesting.  You can tell a good quality supply as the leaves are dark green and healthy looking. If your shop-bought supply has leaves that are more yellow-brown and broken with a high proportion of stems, then it’s not a good quality and usually old.  

Because of its strong, prominent taste, bay leaves should be used in small quantities.  Usually only one leaf is added for cooking, which unfolds its aroma very slowly. 

In the countries of origin, tea made from bay leaves can induce sweating and help relieve blocked sinuses.

It’s important that if someone has an allergy to composite flowers, they should avoid contact with bay leaves. 

Tip: Bay leaf tea for colds – Add approximately 250-300ml of boiling water to a tablespoon of chopped bay leaves. Allow to steep covered for 10 – 15 minutes, strain and drink a cup both morning and evening.

Born to be a Herbal Queen – Parsley

Fresh herbs simply spice up every dish and parsley is no exception! It’s one of the most popular herbs which many people love.

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Parsley belongs to the umbelliferous family and can be found with smooth as well as curly leaves. The smooth parsley is much more aromatic with an intense flavor. It’s rich in vitamin C and was known as far back as ancient Greece for its healing, diuretic effect due to the essential oil apiol. 

A few tips … to keep parsley longer crisp, wrap fresh parsley into a moist kitchen towel and store it in the fridge or you can freeze the whole stems. The best thing, however, is that the parsley can be easily grown in a pot or the garden. Give it a try! When you grow your own, you’ll always have fresh parsley. Parsley goes well with dill, chervil, chives and lemon balm. If you don’t try using fresh herbs, you’ll definitely miss something in the kitchen.

Recipe: For a simple parsley sauce, mix 100 ml extra-virgin olive oil in a small bowl with two finely chopped cloves of garlic, 2 tbsp. chopped parsley and some salt. This fresh sauce goes well with grilled or baked fish.