I’M DIZZY AND INTOXICATED, and the house smells like the most delicious aroma-therapy spa treatment ever. That’s because my friend Gayla Trail, creator of You Grow Girl [dot] com, journeyed down along the winding blue highways from Toronto one fall weekend to put on a Banking the Bounty workshop here at my place, and I got swept up in a cloud of fragrance—and flavor. In print or in a podcast, some ideas for banking your own garden bounty, including salt rubs and flavored vinegars that would make great gifts—many of them new to me. Thank you, Gayla.
I confess, I’d become somewhat herb-complacent, always stocked up year-round on garden-grown parsley and garlic and sage and chives, but not very herb-adventurous any longer otherwise. I have various other herbs in the garden, but mostly ornamental varieties—like gold-leaf creeping oregano (also called marjoram, and a great groundcover), or garlic chives (which I rarely eat, but whose late-summer white flowers the pollinators and I both enjoy very much).
After saying goodbye much too soon that Sunday to Gayla, her husband, Davin Risk, and their dog, Molly, all I wanted to do was pulse aromatic things in my food-processor, and I made basil pesto to freeze in cubes, froze whose rosemary twigs, made a parsley log and more of my usual fare–the ways I always freeze herbs. But every time I looked over at the goodies I’d made in class the day before, I thought: more, more, more!
Gayla re-awakened the herbalist in me, with “recipes” like these:
homemade herb-infused vinegars
WE WARMED a stainless steel pot of plain white vinegar slightly (no need to boil or make really hot), and I sterilized canning jars meantime by rinsing them and putting them, still wet, on a cookie sheet in a warm oven, about 250 degrees F. Boiling them in a water bath or even running them through the dishwasher (no soap required) would work, too. I’d also prepped the lids by boiling briefly in a saucepan of water.
For my blend I chose nasturtium blossoms, but other students in the class made mixtures such as tarragon and lemon peel, or basil (such as Gayla’s favorites ‘Blue Spice,’ ‘African Blue, or ‘Thai’). ‘Opal’ basil would tinge the vinegar pink, as would purple-leaf shiso, or Perilla frutescens. Garlic or hot peppers would complement various herb choices; think of flavor combinations you like, and would like in, say, salad dressing later.
Gayla stuffs up to a cup of basil (stems included) in a cup of vinegar in the jar, pours the warm vinegar over, and lets it stand at room temperature a few days or up to a week, then strains to remove the solids. Decant the flavored and/or tinted liquid into a pretty bottle that you’ve sterilized first, and store in the pantry, or give for gifts.
herb-infused sea salt, or salamoia bolognese
I CANNOT EVEN SAY the Italian first name of this herbed salt, but apparently it means brine or pickle–and olives in some areas are packed with this flavored salt, which combines garlic, rosemary and sage (and sometimes pepper, I’ve read in some places since). Mark Bittman of “The New York Times” wrote some years ago that he keeps a jar of salamoia by the stove and even uses it to salt his pasta water. It’s pricey to buy ready-made, but fast and easy to make:
Per half-cup of sea salt (Gayla prefers coarse-style, but it’s your choice), simply use the food processor to pulse a clove of garlic to a fine chop, then add a tablespoon of sage leaves and 2 tablespoons of rosemary leaves, and pulse again. Pulse the salt in to mix the ingredients thoroughly, then spread the mix on a baking sheet for a day or so to let the herbs in the mix dry a bit before packing into clean jars.
Salamoia bolognese would be great as a rub on meat, on roasted potatoes or other vegetables–or just to open up and stick your nose into as an antidote to a winter day, I expect. Keeping one on hand for just that duty–as “smelling salts” to revive me when the days grow short!
MORE IDEAS like these are in Gayla’s books, including the herb-packed “Easy Growing” and “Grow Great Grub,” as well as in her new one all about beverages, “Drinking the Summer Garden.” You can always find her at You Grow Girl, the website she founded nearly 13 years ago (!!!). Besides all the inspiration, she also left behind a literal gift: a jar of pickled green cherry tomatoes, with a big sticker on top in fluorescent orange type saying: “HOT!” She says they’re great in cocktails, for instance, and here they are:
spicy pickled green cherry tomatoes
THE GIFT (above) reminded me that I used to use my refrigerator pickle recipe on green tomatoes, too, years ago–an easy way to use some of the small ones up. Gayla’s got more ideas for preserving and cooking with green tomatoes (if you can’t get them to ripen one of these ways). Thanks, You Grow Girl, for reminding me of all the goodness in the garden’s little things.
I swear, you two are like a major force of nature! I’ve been a longtime fan/watcher/reader of Gayla’s website… I have every book by her, and given them as gifts! [I can’t wait to get my hands on her newest one tho!] and I LOVE her techniques on preserving herbs!
I just really need to get in the whole riff of preserving by canning… /sigh
I had a great time at the workshop – thank you so much for being such a great host. It was so much fun and inspiring to see how you two are living such a grounded lifestyles. I’m getting there….
Tricia from Goshen. :O)
So nice of you to say so, Tricia. We got lucky with weather and Gayla was so delightful. I learned a lot. Let’s hear it for finding our way to the life we imagine we can have, right? Slow and steady gets us there. :)
Thank you for this post! What brilliant ideas!! I can’t wait to try a few!
You are welcome, Sara. I was so inspired. I feel fortunate to count her as a friend, one of the nicest twists and turns in my shift from my “old life” in NYC to rural living/blogging/book writing. We never would have met if I had stayed in my old rut!
Thank you so much for the workshop, Margaret! It was wonderful, and well worth our two hour drive. Your gardens are lovely, and so is the building of your workshop! Thanks again.
those picked green cherry tomatoes are a beautiful sight. I would have a hard time eating them because they are so nice to see. I can only imagine how great it smelled.
Margaret, have you made Mark Bittman’s Salamoia? His recipe ingredients list “1/3 cup sea salt” and then another “1/3 cup of sea salt”! I’m not sure if this is a typo or if he actually uses another type of salt in the recipe.
Would appreciate your help!
Thank you!
Phyllis
Thanks a million Ms. Roach for the rules on herb saving. I’ve just frozen my first crop of parsley logs!
Meanwhile, my bumper crop of cilantro has gone to seed. Is it worth the trouble to collect the seed and store? In seed form it’s called Coriander, I think. Should I let the little guys dry on the stem before collecting?
Regards to you, Jack, and resident frog boys.
Colta
Dear Margaret:
I am the most unlikely gardner (meaning, I’m not), but I wouldn’t miss your posts and newletters. Reluctantly, I bought a dwarf meyer lemon tree and am determined to see it thrive, but, something has been eating the leaves (taking a bite out of the leaves). I have examined the leaves and see nothing. The local gardening stores offer no suggestions; can you perhaps provide a clue as to what might be dining on my lemon tree. I know they must be brought in for the winter, but I’m reluctant to do so if I can’t identify the pest that is destroying it.
Hi, Angela. Caterpillar? The only one I know about that chews foliage regularly (in Southern orange groves) is the “orangedog” — a type of swallowtail butterfly’s caterpillar stage. Don’t know where you are located and what the nibbling looks like (holes, edges…?).
Thanks for responding Margaret. I live in Central Jersey and the “demon” is chewing on the edges of the leaves. If it is a caterpillar and I can’t see it, what should I use to stop it? Should I be concerned about bringing it in for the winter?
Hi, Angela. I’d just hose the plant and pot down and move it into an intermediate space (a garage? screen porch?) for a bit first to see if the eating continues. You could repot to see if you unearth anyone living in the potting soil, if you are really worried. I have never brought anything awful indoors when I staged the re-entry (put things in a halfway area first).
I love Gayla’s books, they are a wonderful resource for those of us who love to grow edibles or just garden in general. Great post. Thanks!
Me, too, Carol. Nice to see you!
Great ideas for flavored vinegars! I do not have much this year for fresh garden herbs available, but I do have blueberries and would love to make a blueberry vinegar. I have only seen recipes that call for white wine vinegar. Do you know if this would be interchangeable with plain white vinegar or would the outcome be unfavorable? It seems I am only able to find the white wine kind in smaller bottles and is much more expensive to buy than a large bottle of plain white.
I don’t know, Debora, and think it’s a good idea to try a small batch first. Gayla (whose recipes this story originated with) does experiment with different vinegars, I know.