herb | Better Hens and Gardens

Dill & Tarragon Potato Salad

We had a great potato season in the garden this year; so we get to try lots of new recipes using potatoes. I wasn’t very familiar with the taste of tarragon; but like dill in potato salads so tried this recipe from Ina Garten’s “Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That” and loved it – it’s a potato salad with lots of flavor! I’ve made it now with both Prairie Blush and Yukon Gold potatoes; and it’s been very good both times.

2 lbs Yukon Gold Potatoes (6 to 8 potatoes)

Kosher salt

1 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons tarragon or white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon freshly [...]

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Making Herbal Vinegar

Our growing season is drawing to a close, so it’s a good time to preserve some of the summertime flavor by making herbal vinegar. It’s simple to make and can add a wonderful shot of freshness to wintertime salad dressings, marinades, gravies, and sauces.

Herbs that make good vinegar include basil, bay, dill, fennel, garlic, lemon balm, marjoram, mint, rosemary, sage, savory, tarragon, and thyme. Flowers can also be used to make vinegar; and varieties to try include carnation, clover, elder flowers, lavender, nasturtium, primrose, rose, rosemary flowers, thyme flowers, and sweet violets.

To make herbal vinegar, cut fresh, perfect looking herbs; and [...]

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Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)

We love using fresh rosemary in our cooking (see Herbed Eggs), and find that it’s a very easy herb to grow. But a little rosemary goes a long way, so we always buy just one plant from the garden center in spring. Rosemary’s also a tender perennial, and in colder areas of the country it needs to be brought indoors if you plan to overwinter it.

Plants should be moved indoors before a good freeze, so I repotted ours today. I used a soilless planting mix because rosemary requires well-drained soil and because it’s light - I plan to just move this plant in and out each fall and spring, thereby avoiding the cost of a plant each year. I snuck a [...]

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