Category: Cooking with herbs
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Linden Chocolate
The limeflower season is so brief, no sooner have you sniffed the honey-sweet air and found your foraging bags, and the flowers have gone over. Lime flowers need to be gathered when newly open and dried quickly, then you can enjoy them in teas and skincare all year. There’s more about this very special time…
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Elderflower Recipes
From guest blogger, Cllr Toby Stride Elderflowers are one of the culinary delights of the year. For a number of years I made elderflower champagne but there are lots of recipes for it. And it involves preparations months before the elderflowers come into season, making sure you have a supply of lemonade bottles. I came…
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Wild Garlic
It’s *that* season, our wake-up call from nature. Wind down the windows and take in the scent. Better still, put on your wellies and head out foraging. Here’s everything you need to know about Allium ursinum, familiarly called, wild garlic. Names say it all The latin name for wild garlic is associated with Ursa, the…
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Spice up your life
Words by Dr Viv from Curiosity Research Spice up your life – research shows it is good for us. There is more and more research coming out showing that having herbs and spices in the diet is good for our health. I always have a few staples in the kitchen cupboard like ginger, turmeric, cinnamon,…
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Spring tonics
As soon as you see the first fresh dandelion leaves, its time to start making your spring tonic. Having spent winter eating the heavier, fattier soups and stews that our body needs to keep warm, it’s time to flush out the system in preparation for the lighter salads and leaves of spring and summer. So…
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Blend your own Love Tea
With Valentines fast approaching, its time to show a little love with the herbs. Whether you’re brewing for two, or warming your own heart, you can create your own blend of herbs to get the mood you want. Herbs to set the mood A herbal tea blend will typically include three or more herbs, selected…
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Storing Herbs
Words by Angela Jones Let’s start at the very basic level and assume you have no garden, that you buy herbs from the supermarket as and when you need them, and you have a windowsill. Firstly, don’t store your dried herbs on your windowsill, especially if they are in glass jars. The sun will bleach…
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Cosy chai
O the weather outside is frightful, but chai is quite delightful. When you’re looking to cosy up indoors, it’s worth taking a bit of time to brew yourself a warming, spicy chai. Not only will you be able to cosy up with a comforting, health-boosting mug; you’ll also be gently scenting your home with a…
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Herby bread sauce
Every Christmas I wonder why we don’t have bread sauce at other times of the year. If you’re a ‘forget-the-turkey-but-give-me-the-trimmings’ kind of person, then bread sauce should be in your top five, along with stuffing, chipolatas, bacon rolls and, of course, cranberry sauce. Freshly made bread sauce has to be one of the easiest ways…
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Apple recipes
Baked Spiced Apple Pudding Inspired by a traditional recipe from Mrs Charles Darwin’s Cookbook By peeling the apples they will collapse as they cook allowing their juices and flavour to spread into the surrounding batter. 6 apples (dessert apples are best)2 tablespoons sugar (plus more for sprinkling)1 teaspoon cinnamon1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg1/4 teaspoon finely grated…