I think I'm addicted to basil. I keep this gorgeous smelling herb on my kitchen windowsill and can't resist pulling off a leaf to chew on as I pass. I throw it in salads as a tasty leaf and in all my stews and pasta dishes and of course you can't eat Mozzarella without it.
Herbs are such an easy way to flavour up your cooking and so easy to keep (trust me, they are the only plants I can keep) and they can be picked up very cheaply from so many places. My latest addition is mint. After a week of eating Turkish cuisine where it is thrown in with everything, especially vegetables, and goes so well with all the yoghurt and cucumber dressings, it has risen up my list of favourites...I've even made mint tea with a sprig dipped in a cup of boiling water.
My other chosen ones are lemon thyme which smells of hot holidays in the Mediterranean and is fabulous in all my chicken dishes; rosemary which roasts beautifully on vegetables and potatoes and oregano which invokes my local Italian restaurant and so always gets put with pasta, especially bolognaise. Parsley we all know goes with fish but did you know that chewing a head or two gets rid of the smell of garlic on the breath? Talking of garlic, there is a variety you can grow called Society Garlic (Tulbaghia) which has pretty purple flowers and doesn't make your breath smell at all (hence the name). I love Thai food so would like to try and grow kaffir lime leaves next or maybe cardamom as both of these leaves work well in curry.
Herbs even have excellent health benefits. They work as detoxifyers, stimulants and antiseptics and have been used for weight loss and skin conditions as well as cures for infections and viruses, especially colds.
So grow some herbs...not only will it save some money on all those dusty dried spice jars and give you something pretty and fragrant to scent your home but it will remind you of summer sunshine on even the rainiest day.
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