Types of Culinary Herbs

The herbs below are a list of botanical herbs used in popular cuisines today. Prime flavorful culinary herbs are harvested from well tended plants while in their leaf phase. Herbs have two phases of growth: the leaf phase and the flower (or reproductive phase).

When plants enter a flowering stage, leaf production slows down or stops. In this stage the leaves on the plant may become woody, bitter, grassy and yellowed. The quality of these leaves are not optimal for cooking. Growers can delay the flowering phase by harvesting often.

Melilot (Sweet Clover)

Melilot (Sweet Clover)


This biennial is a little unusual since it is native to England and Wales, so you may have to order the seeds from a nursery that deals in hard to find seeds or plants (there are several online that list it). Also called sweet clover.

Once you find it, you will be glad you did. Melilot produces long spikes of yellow pea like flowers in summer that act like a magnet for bees. The bushy stems grow about 2 feet high.

It is the clover-like leaves and not the flowers which are used. You can make an occasional refreshing tea with them or chop them and add to stuffing - the flavor is often described as honey or almond like. This almond like fragrance remains when the leaves are dried, so they make a lovely addition to potpourri.

It gives an original flavor to beer and cheeses. Used in the Swiss green cheese Schabzieger and in Gruyère.

It's close cousin, blue melilot is used in Switzerland to give color and flavor to sapsago cheese.




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