A Few New (to me) Herbs

This year I’m expanding my herbal vocabulary and growing a bunch of new varieties. Here’s a bit about some of my new favorites:

Cuban Oregano- (plectranthus amboinicus)This is a member of the coleus family and has beautiful rounded, fuzzy leaves. It isn’t a true oregano, and the variety I’m growing smells amazing – very green an citrusy. When you bite it, though, the flavor is pretty bland. Cooking this herb would be wasting it, I think, but I would definitely add it to pestos, salads and salsas, or use it to flavor olive oils, vinegar and drinks (white wine sangria, anyone?) This is a tender plant and is best used potted and brought inside before frost.


Purple Opal Basil - (Ocimum basilicum) There are several purple varieties of basil. The leaves of the “Opal” variety aren’t a solid purple, but have almost golden undertones that become more obvious as the plant matures. I like to use them along with the green basil to give a little color variation to caprese salad, or in a green salad to add some flavor. Annual, easily grown from seed.


Chocolate Mint-(Mentha piperita cv)

The leaf edges of the chocolate variety of mint have a pretty reddish-brown color that would make this a beautiful garnish for a chocolate cake. I’ve been using mint lately to flavor cocktails, muddling it with fresh fruit (peach is my favorite) in a shaker with flavored vodka. Would make a great tea. Mint is invasive and perennial around here, so I’ll probably just leave it in the pot and hope it comes back next year.


Vietnamese Cilantro (polygonum odoratum)– My experience growing cilantro in the past has not been good. Around this time of year, it usually turns yellow and leggy or flowers and peters out. This variety doesn’t seem nearly as tempermental. It’s completely pest resistant, very pretty and creeps like thyme, but is easly controlled by cutting it back. The flavor is just like cilantro and I’ve been using the leaves in salads and salsa just the way I do cilantro. Terrific in chicken or egg salad. This is an annual plant that I purchased at a local nursery.

Lemon Thyme – (thymus citrodorus)

Thyme has tiny leaves and the tips of this variety are yellow. It behaves just like English thyme in the garden. Thyme is excellent with potatoes. I make a sliced potato and thyme tart in a skillet that is flipped over and finished in the oven, the thyme leaves are sprinkled on top. Also yummy in potato salad or added to a marinade. It could come back as a perennial and will be left in the ground.


Purple Sage – Salvia officinalis purpurea

I chose this for my Garden of Purple Paisley Delights that I planted in honor of my all time favorite musical hero, Prince. When I smell sage I think of roast turkey and am looking for some ways to use it apart from as a poultry herb. I saw some beautiful crackers recently that had a whole sage leaf pressed into the top of them before baking. Could be extra nice with the purple leaves. Sage can be grown from seed and can be found in most nurseries.


Hyssop- (agastache Foeniculum)I had a crazy time trying to identify this herb. I searched through Martha Stewart’s culinary herb garden at the NY Botanical Garden and didn’t find it, but later found it in another bed of plants that were featured for their smell. They smell a lot like root beer. You could use hyssop to give things a licorice flavor. It’s also used medicinally, boiled, with the steam inhaled for coughs. This is perennial in zone 7.

Got any good ideas for using herbs?