Welcome 2012! The Year of the Rose

The New Year has now swept. Hopefully, you have all welcomed it in merrily, safely and soundly.

After the whirlwind of the holidays - shopping, visiting, wrapping, baking and making gifts - I'm finally catching up on some reading and emails. I was reading an email from the International Herb Association and was absolutely delighted to discover that the Herb of The Year is a top favorite of mine - The Rose! 

In my younger days, I merely thought of roses as OK. My parents had some growing, as did my grandmothers, and they smelled nice but didn't really move me. 

Much later (I'm not fessing up to the number of years), I was in Island Beach State Park and became entranced by the beautiful abundance of the lovely and vigorous roses growing throughout the park. Yep, I'd fallen in love with the hearty Rosa Rugosa. I never realized they grew in such abundance along the shore line. The scent was full and entrancing, they had huge rose hips that made wonderful teas and jellies, and - this is the best part - they are pretty darn easy to grow! 

I'll be exploring the many wonders of the rose all year, and sharing my discoveries and ideas. Please feel free to share any ideas or discoveries of your own? Do you have a favorite rose?  Do you cook with roses? Let's see where this adventure can take us!

Bring on the Bay!

I've always used bay leaves. They've been a part of our kitchen for as long as I can remember. They were tossed into sauces, stews and soups as a matter of course. But until I started reading up on this innocuous leaf, I never real thought about it. To tell the truth, I didn't even know if it added any flavor to all of those things I tossed it into.

But since Bay Laurel is Herb of the Year, I've taken a little more time to get to know it. The scent of bay is enchanting. It is said that the priestess of Delphi sat above burning bay laurel so the fumes would increase her prophetic visions. Me, I just like

to take a good sniff. This simple leaf is said to clear your mind allowing greater clarity. It is also calming and great for stress relief. I have a small sachet of a few leaves under my pillow which I find especially useful after a long hard day of work. The sweet yet spicy scent is also said to help respiration, which is another benefit that gives me a great nights sleep.

This ancient herb is also a symbol of protection. You can easily find bay leaf wreaths at places like Well Sweep Herb Farm, florists or other gift shops. You can find them most often during the holiday season, but a special scent like this is appropriate all year round.

I'll keep you informed of my discoveries of the lovely bay - and feel free to let me know about yours.

Giving Bay it's Just Desserts

We often think of Bay leaves as those dry leaves we drop into soups, stews and sauces. It's a main meal type of herb. However, this pungent little leaf is more. And to honor it's place as Herb of the Year, I give you a tempting dessert recipe.

The main recipe appears in the International Herb Associations book "Bay (Laurus nobils) Herb of the Year 2009". This is a fascination collection of information, tips and recipes about and for Bay. I took the recipes from the book and played with them a little, and came up with this yummy dessert that's perfect any time of year.

Gingered Fruit with Bay Syrup


Start by making the Bay Syrup. Make a lot and store in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. It can also be frozen. Bay syrup can be used to flavor drinks, over pancakes, let your imagination run wild. The fragrance and flavor is spicy and sweet.

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 cups water
10 bay leaves (fresh works best but you can use dried)

Put the sugar, honey and water in a heavy sauce pan. Add the bay leaves (bruise fresh ones slightly with a spoon). Bring to a low boil over medium heat. Cover and remove from the heat. Let it sit for an hour, or until room temperature. Remove the bay leaves, squeezing lightly to get out all the goodness. Place in a container and refrigerate.

Gingered Fruit

1 pound of fruit (fresh summer fruit works best - nectarines, peaches, plums, cherries, pineapple. You can also add some dried fruit like, currants, raisins, etc.)
1/4 cup of Bay Syrup
2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice.
1 tablespoon agar agar or gelatin

Cut the fruit into pieces. In a sturdy medium saucepan, combine the fruit, syrup and ginger. Cover and simmer on medium for about 7 or 8 minutes, until the juices are flowing and the fruit is slightly tender.

Stir in the lemon juice and gelatin or agar agar (you can find this in some grocery stores, health food stores, and oriental markets). Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Turn off heat and remove from stove.

You can serve this warm or chilled. It thickens quite a bit when chilled. My favorite - take apiece of pound cake, put on a scoop of ice cream, add some of the gingered fruit and a little extra Bay Syrup. Wow, is that good.

Extra fruit can also be refrigerated and nibbled as needed.

The Nobel Bay - The Herb of the Year 2009

Go take a look in your kitchen cabinet. Go ahead. I'll wait.

I bet you have bay leaves in there, don't you? Since ancient times, bay leaves have been an important part of human life. That history and it's place as a culinary staple are part of the reason why the International Herb Association has selected Laurus Nobilis (Sweet Bay Laurel) as the 2009 Herb of the Year.

Since 1995, the International Herb Association has selected an herb to celebrate and educate. The criteria for selection is for the herb to fully meet at least 2 of the following 3 criteria:

• Medicinal properties
• Culinary uses and expanse
• Decorative Value

Last years herb, Calendula, is one of my all time favorite herbs. This year's, Sweet Bay, comes close.

I'll be adding recipes and additional information about our 2009 Herb of the Year winner over the course of time. But I thought I'd start with a little mythology.

There are several versions of how Bay came to be. One is that Daphne, a nymph in ancient Greece, was a beautiful, strong and independent young thing. Apollo, god of sunlight, medicine, healing and more, sees the young nymph and is intrigued by her. Eros (or Cupid) is a bit or a trickster. He hits Apollo with a love arrow, while striking Daphne with an arrow that makes her revile Apollo. Valiantly she flees from Apollos ardorous pursuits. Exhausted she collapses at the river bank, where she calls to her father, the river god Ladonus, and asks for rescue. He transforms her into a richly green Bay tree.

Apollo comes to his sense, but still sees the beauty that the Bay tree holds. He declared the Bay Laurel to be a sacred tree of his own. From that day forth, it was used to wreath the heads of the most learned, wise, and strong.

I leave you there for now, with more information to come. In the meantime you can find out more about this grand herb at The International Herb Association or the Herb Society of America websites.