Introduction to a Week of Herbs and Spices

Often what elevates ordinary ingredients into ethnic fare is the addition of herbs and spices. It makes food more personal, and is like putting the finishing brushstrokes on a great painting. Most people know parsley as the curly mess of leaves used as garnish on restaurant plates, and basil as the stuff pesto is made of. Of course, the familiar song "Scarbourogh Fair" mentions "parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme," and those are in the take on the old medieval song because herbs played even greater importance than flavor additives earlier in European history. (SIDENOTE: The refrain of that song is literally meant to represent the relationship between a man and a girl. The parsley is to remove bitterness, sage has always been associated with strength, rosemary with remembrance and thyme with courage.) If interested in food an history, one of the most interesting things to research is how herbs and spices literally guided early civilizations. It used to be WAY more than finding the right shaker in the grocery store aisles. Any great spice store like Penzey's Spices on E. 82nd St. is a good place to go to find people who are knowledgeable and interested in such topics, besides having a great global selection of herbs and spices. That website also has great recipes as well.

So in order of herbs' and spices' great importance on humanity and food, it is worth devoting a whole week of blog postings to. Each day will be a new topic focusing on a family of herbs and spices based on region and use. 

This post other than introducing the week-long event will focus on the differences between herbs and spices and some fun basic facts. Both are used for scenting and flavoring, among other things. What makes them sought after are their volatile essential oils. These are often found bottled in health food stores for different health and beauty care products, so for instance, rosemary oil would be a very bad thing to flavor food with, but is a great in a homemade astringent. If those oils are found naturally in the leaf of a plant, then it is called an herb (basil, tarragon, parsley, rosemary, etc), while if found anywhere else (pod, seed, twig, bark, etc.) it is a spice. Not all herbs are edible, such as bay leaf. Bay can be used to flavor broths, soups, roasts, but is never ground because it must be removed before serving. The same plant may also produce both an herb and a spice. Corriander is a seed that has a nice lemony fresh flavor, while the leaf of the same plant is known as cilantro. Cilantro has a very soapy, pungent taste. They are used in totally different styles of cooking. 

Storing herbs and spices is very important to preserve the essential oils. Spices ideally should be kept in their whole form until just before using. Grinding with a mortar and pestle is usually a good way to break up spices. If needing a very fine grind, a small coffee grinder works great, but the oils will stick in the coffee grinder - so be careful to get a second one for heavy spice grinding use so you don't mix flavors. Whole spices can last up to 2 years in sealed airtight containers kept in cool dark places. Ground spices on the other hand last less than six months. 

Ground dried herbs can last up to one year, but be sure to do a "sniff test" before using. If the container smells more like sawdust than anything, it is better to pitch it. The oils can turn rancid and actually make food taste way worse. Herbs and spices don't necessarily have to break the bank, but use good sense. Stay away from dried basil that is brighter than astroturf. It is a dried plant, after all. 

One of the best things to do in summer is to keep potted herbs on the porch or a kitchen window. They are easy to find in starter plants, and start from seed very easily. Most just need a lot of sun, room for quickly growing roots, and frequent watering. Basil sets the wet extreme as far as care goes, being happiest in a pot sitting in a dish of water that is constantly filled, almost hydroponically grown. On the other hand, rosemary and thyme are more of shrubs and so they can stand to be watered every 4-5 days or so. Essentially just make sure the leaves don't wilt. Most herbs can recover in a day or so if the leaves get wilted. Just sit them in some water and really let them soak in a lot of moisture and sunlight. Harvesting fresh grown herbs is as easy as picking a few leaves for a recipe. If plants are growing faster than you can use them, the best thing to do is to buy a spare ice cube tray and fill sections with 1tsp to 1 tbsp cut herbs suspended in a little water or extra virgin olive oil. These are so convenient then to just pop into dishes all year round. When cooking with herbs be sure to note whether the recipe calls for fresh or dried, because dried herbs are about double the flavor strength as fresh. Overpowering a dish with too much of one herb can be off-putting.

Look forward to a week of herbs and spices. For any general questions, bookmark CNN interactive's Herb and Spice encyclopedia. Very useful!