We are fortunate to have access to the Wake Forest Herb Fest which is put on each year in April and have gone and bought herbs and plants the past three of them. Next year’s herb fest will celebrate the 10th annual from April 17th-26th, 2009 and is held in Festival Park, Wake Forest, NC. One of the interesting things about herb fest is that beyond just culinary herbs they also sell some medicinal herbs as well. One of the interesting medicinal plants for sale is the curry plant, it really has an amazing smell too. Every time I walk by the plant you can smell the deep rich curry scent. This plant shown above is into it’s second year, as it was planted in the spring of 2007.

This plant is not to be confused with the culinary preparation, as curry is actually a blend of many different herbs. The herbs used in real curry vary from region to region, and best known for its roots in Indian, Pakistani, Afghani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Nepali, Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai, and other South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisines.

The most useful derivitive of the plant is the essential oil that is pressed out of the leaves and is also known as Helichrysum oil, as the scientific name for the plant is Helichrysum italicum. According to Mountain Valley Growersweb site; “Helichrysum oil has recently been reinvestigated as a medicinal herb and is said to to be good for bruises and varicose veins. But, you will probably have to make your own oil or infusion as there is very little oil commercially available which tends to make it a bit pricey”.

I have yet to actually do anything with the curry plant, but I understand that the leaves can be crushed into a mayonnaise preparation such as an aioli or stuffed into the cavity of a chicken or other poultry, but it culinary uses are very limited. I do know that when I come near the plant or touch it I will smell like an Indian restaurant for a few minutes.

Basil ~ its one of my all time favorite herbs for many reasons,  mainly for it’s bold flavor produced within and as the main ingredient in Pesto! Basil pesto has to be one of those basic preparations that is so versatile in uses from sauces to salads to marinades to making an encrusted dish too! Not only is basil a feature in Italian cuisine, but I also love fresh basil found in Vietnamese dishes such as in their version of spring rolls and also in their vermicelli salads. 

Cultivation ~ The photo above and on the left is of a basil plant in our front yard that actually volunteered itself this year, and it is interesting too because I had planted purple and cinnamon basil in this very spot last year. And we get frost and freezes too each winter which makes this more interesting because basil behaves as an annual if there is any chance of temperatures dropping below 32 degrees F for any length of time. So it is no surprise that basil thrives when planted outside in hot temperate climates and will grow back as a perennial if protected from frost.

When the plant starts to flower leaf production begins to decline, however, if the flower buds are picked early before they mature the plant will promote more leafy growth. Also, when the plant goes to seed they can be saved for the next planting season in the early spring. Basil also responds well to propagation by cuttings, where short leafy stems are suspended in water for up to two weeks until and until roots begin to develop. Then the cuttings can be planted into small soil pots until seedlings are large enough to transplant outdoors.

Culinary Uses~  Found both in dried and fresh form, basil is a common herb ingredient used in a host of cooking preparations. Italian seasonings include basil and is popular in a variety of tomato sauce preparations, and can also be found in the French Herbs de Provence spice blend.  I also use basil as one of my main herb ingredients in my Cajun Spice Blend. I love basil in tomato sauce and it is great fresh and paired up with tomatoes and cheese in a salad. Tomato and basil pair up so well that a soup has even been made with them, the ever popular Tomato Basil Soup is still the du jour at La Madeline Bakery.

As I mentioned earlier, basil pesto is a great preparation, and one of the most versatile uses for it was in a popular dish on the Columns Hotel menu, Shrimp and Pasta Pesto Alfredo. This dish was such a great flavor combination with the basil pesto folded into the cream sauce with fresh grated Parmesan cheese tossed with fresh sauteed Gulf shrimp and fettuccine pasta. I also love fresh basil in French cuisine influenced Vietnamese dishes such as fresh Spring Rolls with shrimp, carrots, basil, cucumber and rolled into the fresh rice paper. Another Vietnamese featured dish is the Vermicelli Saladsthat include the cold rice noodle tossed with fresh chiffonade of basil, carrots, chopped peanuts, and meat of choice such as shrimp, beef or pork.

If you have ever seen the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” then you know that most words are derived from a Greek word.  Well, the word basil comes from the Greek βασιλεύς (basileus), meaning “king”, so it is no wonder that this bold herb still holds it’s place as one of the “king of herbs” by many cookery authors.¹

References

 ¹http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil  

This past Saturday we got out into the yard for some gardening, weeding and watering in the front yard since it was an unusually cool day for a mid-August weekend. Gardening is a combination of relaxing, energizing and cathartic activity, I just love the outdoors. So while we were playing in the garden and the planter areas I started to think about what I could write about all the edible culinary herbs growing in our yard. I also came up with the Plant Contest idea while watering the herbs, it is amazing what a little outdoor activity and fresh air can do for the brain.

This is the first of what will be as a series on fresh grown culinary and medicinal herbs with a focus on the home grown culinary herbs from our own yard. I will also touch on some herbs that we are not growing at this time, but are equally as important to any good kitchen pantry. I will also mention a few medicinal herbs that are easy to grow and can be utilized in a variety of preparations as well.

In our yard we currently have eleven different herbs growing in various locations surrounding the house, most of them are on the south side which gets the most sun. These herbs include the four in the image above which are spearmint, sage, oregano and basil. We also have two varieties of thyme, peppermint, garlic chives, curry, cilantro and rosemary. Tomorrow I will focus on one of these herbs and will continue to highlight each of them as I move along in the series.

Join us in helping to decide what edible plant to put down in this old barrel planter. For the past two years we have grown lemon grass in the planter with great success. This year since we were out of town a lot during the past few months and combined with the drought conditions in our area we decided it would be best to scale back our planting this growing season.

Well, mother nature fooled us again and has blessed us with good rainfall every week for the past couple of months. While the prognosticators say we are still in a moderate drought, Falls Lake is only 2 inches below full stage. So now that we are into the last weeks of summer and approaching fall soon we were thinking of what we could plant here and still get something to eat out of it in the next couple of months.

We want your help in deciding what would be a great edible plant to grow in our old barrel planter.

The contest winner gets a choice of one free jar of either my Cajun Chef Ryan’s Cajun Spice Mix or one free jar of my Finger Lickin’ Rub Spice Mix.

Rules

1. The selected plant must be able to produce edible portions, meaning you can cook parts of the plant or eat parts of the plant in raw form.
2. It must be a plant that can grow with moderate sunlight. The planter is located on the south east facing corner of the house and gets about 6-8 hours of indirect and 4-6 hours of direct sunlight a day. Remember the daylight is getting shorter now so the hours of available sunlight are diminishing.
3. To enter the contest you must have a registered account with Cajun Chef Ryan (CCR). Your Cajun Chef Ryan online account must include a valid email address, screen name, and real name.
4. Only one entry is allowed per registered CCR account.
5. To submit your contest entry please post your suggested edible plant in a comment on this posting thread or send an email to cajunchefryan@rymocs.com. If posting your entry by email be sure to include your CCR screen name, real name and use your valid email address that is registered on your CCR account. 
6. Comments from Food Buzz  friends and members are always welcome, but to be considered a valid entry for this contest you must register online with Cajun Chef Ryan to submit an entry. 
7. In the case of a tie or where multiple entries are submitted for the selected winning plant then each entrants name will be written on a sheet of paper for a drawing and one (1) winner will be selected.
8. Deadline for entry is 23:59:59 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on Sunday, August 31, 2008.
9. The winner will be selected on September 1, 2008 and will be notified by email within one business day.
10. To qualify for and receive the winning one (1) jar of spice mix you must have a valid mailing address.

The winning spice mix will be mailed via USPS Priority Mail upon confirmation of the winning entry valid mailing address.