May gardening tips: Harvesting aromatic herbs

Rooftop gardening

May 26, 2013

During May and it's time to harvest and store aromatic herbs.

Mediterranean herbs

Every year I harvest the herbs for my Mediterranean Aromatic Mixture: in the picture rosemary, scarlet sage, sage and thyme. I will add many other herbs during the summer.

Last autumn I sowed some winter savory, and I harvested a bunch of leaves to dry them. They have a pungent and slightly wild aroma, perfect for fish, eggs, legumes.
Read also: Cooking with Savory

Calamint is a spontaneous herb with aroma similar to that of the savory, just wilder and less sophisticated. I used with mushrooms and cheese.

Sweet clover is another spontaneous plant, that I grow for its flowers. They are tiny, yellow and aromatic and I dry them to prepare herbal teas.

All herbs are dried in a similar manner: wash and dry well on a kitchen towel, then place in a dry place away from direct sunlight.

More details:
Storing marjoram
Storing thyme
Storing sage
Storing Rosemary
Storing mint: dried
Harvest and store: all posts

Sculpit

Sculpit is another spontaneous plant that I sowed this spring, with pointed, slightly fleshy leaves, to be eaten fresh or cooked like in the sculpit omelette.

Magenta spreen is a new herb that I'm trying this year: the young leaves are bright magenta, and then turn to green. We used this first harvest in some cheese sandwiches.

This post joins to Harvest Mondays.