Guest Blogging for The Herb Companion Magazine and An Herbal Timeout!!

My Variegated Herbal Corner of My Garden!

Sometimes you get to the end of summer and you can't think about your design for the next season.  My latest guest blog for The Herb Companion magazine will hopefully give you inspiration for next year.  It's called Designing Your Garden with Herb Vignettes.

An Herbal Timeout!

I know some of you have just started to follow my blog and others have been reading me for a while now, but I need a little break!  I have been blogging almost every day for quite a while.  Loved every minute of it, but just need an herbal timeout!  I'm leaving The Herbal Husband behind to take care of the garden.  He is my herbal rock.  Trust me I'm a spoiled herbalist!  We don't usually take a break this time of year.  Too much goes on!  I'm off to England for ten days and I promise to have lots of brilliant adventures to share with you when I return.  I don't multitask too well like others we know, Taylor's Outback blogging from laundry rooms in Alaska!  So talk amongst yourselves and I will be back before you know it!  Talk to you soon!  Cheers!

A Shy Monarch and Another Butterfly Hanging Around!

The Herbal Husband has left a lot of stray butterfly bushes around my herb garden!  The butterflies are enjoying the extra nectar!  I don't think this one in the bottom photo is a monarch.  Will have to get my butterfly book and check!  It is very hot here for the end of August.  Although I remember going back to school in the heat when I was young!  Hope you had a great day wherever you may be!  Talk to you later.

Celebrating with Cinnamon Basil Jelly and Dinner!

Well, today's the big day!  Yes, 50 plus years ago I was born!  Made 12 jars of cinnamon basil jelly and The Herbal Husband is taking me out to dinner to the Cross Keys Inn.  Will have photos for you later.  My best friend and her daughter, Miss C are coming over with a gift.  So I got to run.  It has been a beautiful day here.  Hope it's nice wherever you may be.  Talk to you later!

Here are some photos from dinner!

Spinach Salad with Warm Chevre Cheese, Golden Beets and a Sherry Basil Vinaigrette!

Pittsburgh Wedge, Iceberg Lettuce Served with Bacon, Blue Cheese and Egg with Ranch Dressing!

Seared Day Boat Sea Scallops with Sweet Crab, Corn & Potato Chowder Sauce!

Roasted Amish Chicken Breast with Herbs & Garlic Stock Reduction with Mashed Potatoes!

Didn't get a very good picture of dessert, but it was very good.  My creme brulee had a candle in it and The Herbal Husband had tiramisu.  The Herbal Husband left part of it.  He was stuffed!  I actually ate the rest of his dessert.  Only on my birthday!  Can't do that again until next year at least!  If you are in the Pittsburgh area, give the Cross Keys Inn a try.  The atmosphere is very relaxing, the service efficient and the food was delicious!  Miss C is coming back tomorrow to dig potatoes with The Herbal Husband.  I have more jelly to make!  Yikes!  Will it ever end?  Yes, I'll either run out of jars or Certo!  Stay tuned!

Accidental Dinosaur

This morning I was reading a thread on a newsgroup about which applications people have chosen to disable on their cellphones. Reading along, I can hear the drum beats, and know that it won't be too much longer before another piece of technology will enter my life and take away another piece of solitude.
Thus far I have managed to resist having a cellphone. My daughter was gifted with a phone by her father at the age of 10, and it never seemed like a great idea to me. For years it was mandatory to leave the phone on the dining room table overnight, because it came to my attention that her "little" friends would reach out and touch her in the middle of the night. Rarely did calls come through the house phone for her, and that meant that as her mother, I was not aware of just who might be calling.
It's been about 20 or 25 years since cellphones became available to everyman. At first it was mostly people who really needed to be connected, like doctors and emergency personnel. If you ventured to a mall, you might see some guy being very conspicuous while taking (or faking) a call, because at the time it was a status thing. Something to impress the ladies...
Now they are everywhere, and people are talking all the time. All the time! In the spring I was in Penn Station in NYC, and marveled looking around, seeing that almost everyone waiting for a train was talking on a phone.
Part of my resistance comes from the fact that I am some hideous combination of Luddite and Techno Junkie. Although job situations forced me to use computers long before the general public came in common contact with them, I resisted having one at home for years. As soon as I got one, somehow e-commerce followed within months, making it a daily part of my life. Okay, that was cool, but there was no way I was getting a laptop. The office was for work, and that would leave the rest of my life alone, right? Then my brother gave me a laptop as a gift one year, and I'm typing this on the couch, with Saturday morning coffee. Sigh.... and so it goes.
At least (so far) the business has thrived via email, the phone blessedly quiet.
I actually do have a cellphone. It was given to me during an extended family crisis, and in fact I did use it a few times. It is even charged. There might even be messages, but darned if I can find them. Once I tried to call home from the car during a snowstorm. It was someone else's car and operation of the windshield wipers was eluding me (see a pattern here?), but the little screen filled with strange characters. We don't know what that was about.
I'm afraid because of what I see happening to people. It may sound snooty, but it looks to me like people are losing their ability to be alone. In the grocery store, they need to phone a friend in order to choose a flavor of yogurt. Walking in a park, they can't enjoy looking at their surroundings without chatting with someone. In waiting rooms and restaurants, people have lost the ability to simply enjoy either the company they are in, or being alone. Apparently driving has become almost impossible to do without some kind of moral support. My daughter, on breaks from college has to be broken from the habit of constant texting in order to have a face-to-face conversation.
And the worst part? I know deep in my heart that all of those things would become my life, and I would be among the worst of the talkers. As it stands, I have long conversations in my head, alone in the garden, walking in the woods, or driving somewhere. Should something magnificent present itself to me during one of these times, there is the anticipation of telling about it later. I can work on how to describe it in my mind for a while. That will be lost.
Eventually I will have to learn how they work. Public pay phones are all but non-existent, and I am beginning to feel like one of the last hold-outs, so these days of solitude are numbered.
But I'll tell you what... I'm NOT getting an electronic reader. No way.

A Beautiful Morning in the Garden!

Volunteer Sunflower Blooming Wildly!

I'm not in the garden as often as I would like this time of year.  The harvesting of berries, herbs and veggies has begun.  I just finished a batch of raspberry jam.  The second harvest has begun, but we aren't getting enough rain.  Unless The Herbal Husband waters, I may not be making too much more raspberry jam.  Here is a volunteer sunflower hiding the bird feeder in the shape of a sunflower!  I know confusing!

Four O'Clocks That Can't Tell Time!

The four o'clocks that don't know what time it is!  It was about 10:00 AM.  We have all yellows this year.  And more sunflowers.  I think The Herbal Husband planted these along our back fence.  Hope you are having a great day.  The celebrating continues with a movie, Get Low with Robert Duvall and Bill Murray among others.  I think a quirky little movie and my free burger at Red Robin.  Talk to you later!

One of My Favorite Sunflowers!

Sunflower Peeking Out From Morning Glories!

Tooting My Own Herbal Horn!

The Herbal Husband Celebrating My Award!

Had a great surprise in my Hotmail inbox last evening, an herb blog award!  Online Schools.org sponsors this award and they give out a lot of them in different categories!  I should also thank you the readers because I was nominated by some of you!  So thank you for reading my blog!  You can click on my award over to the right and check out the other herb blogs who won!  Can't be any more of a Diva than I already am!  Oh, maybe I can be an Herbal Diva!  Oh, I already am that!  I just looked at the badge I picked with that big TOP on it!  I'm pretty low on the list.  Maybe it's in alphabetical order!  Stop whining you made the list!  Well, my day has been great.  Hope yours is as well.  Going to take Jim and LaVerne on the Turnpike over to Hoss's for our birthday dinners!  Remember he is 94 and I'm 29!  Ha, I'm sticking to that story!  Going to be a little chilly tonight, but right back up in the 80's over the weekend.  Talk to you later!

Almost Missed This Blooming!

'Lord Baltimore' hibiscus

And you're saying to yourself, she must be preoccupied with other garden matters to have almost missed this!  It's something like that!  This is a hardy hibiscus named 'Lord Baltimore'.  He is much less boisterous than in the past.  He is the last one to wake up in the spring and you may think you have lost it.  It gets hibiscus sawfly worms and I have fun smashing them!  I'm glad to see the Lord blooming.  Hope you have had a great day.  Talk to you later.  Check out the updated shots of the blooming rosemary in my Sunday, August 22nd post!

Echoing FlowerLady's Words!

Just read FlowerLady's latest post and you should read the article that she has posted!  It's an eye opener.  I'm on the other side of the state and it may end my blogging if it gets across the state to Pittsburgh!  Here is a link to the article.  It's ironic that Philadelphia where our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution is trying to silence the bloggers with a privilege license!  I'm irate too, FlowerLady!  Please if you are at all bothered by this, post it on your blog!  Most of us do this because we enjoy it not to make money!

The Celebration Continues!

Fig, Feta Cheese and Arugula Salad

The Herbal Husband fixed one of my favorite dinners last night.  He made a new salad because of the abundance of figs this year.  It was a fig cut in quarters, feta cheese, arugula and balsamic vinegar and olive oil and a nasturtium flower.  Then we had tuna cakes, potatoes and wax beans from our garden!  Nothing quite like growing and eating your own food!  It was delicious!  Had the last of the apple pie warmed up!  The Herbal Husband is already asking for another pie! 

One of my favorite birthday dinners

 The Herbal Husband cut one of the last 'Brother Cadfael' roses for my birthday and said, "Now you can make your own bouquet!"  So I did!

A Birthday Bouquet!

Besides the 'Brother Cadfael' rose, there is lemon balm, calendula, sunflower, sage, bee balm, oregano, a fennel flower, peppermint, artemesia and, of course, lemon verbena!  A different view from every side!
My birthday is still several days away.  Made dinner reservations at an old restaurant with new owners for Saturday, the Cross Keys Inn.  Have a coupon for my free burger at Red Robin and you get a free sundae as well!  It's a great deal.  We are taking our friends, Jim and Laverne out on Thursday!  Three things Jim loves Laverne, his wife,  the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Hoss's restaurant.  So we will pick them up, get on the Turnpike and go to Hoss's.  Jim was 94 in early August and I'm going to be 29 again!   More exercise to come after all this eating!  Hope you had a great day wherever you may be!  Talk to you later!

August and Autumn are spelled differently!

People, people! I know that it's been a rough summer with extremes of all sorts of weather, depending on where you live, but do we have to be in such a hurry to usher this season away? Yes, yes... I can smell it too, and feel the change in the air. The sky has taken on the characteristic hue of blue that only comes this time of year - but come on now. We still have at least another month or so before the lush greens start to change to golds and tans and browns.
On a little walk around the yard it was easy to pick up a few "pretties" that probably do foretell of the coming season. Elderberries, beauty berries, hazelnuts, fir cones, and a guinea feather or two...
The hazelnuts are one of the prettiest things out there right now. The way they grow in little tassels is just one of nature's masterpieces. Shades of pale green with a blush of pink - beautiful! The tassels hide behind the large leaves, and I bet we'll have to race the squirrels for them.
Out in the garden the Tomato Horn Worms are showing up. They creep me out. A lot. At some point, I'll take the tomatoes i want and then just stop going near them. Knowing that they are hosting their own killers, and the wasp eggs they carry will eventually lead to their demise.... just eewww.
Soon the brush will die back enough that we'll be able to walk deeper into the woods and find nuts and all sorts of berries and fruits. Every part of every season has it's own special gifts, so I won't wish for the end of this one quite yet.
Oh MY! While I was waiting for the pictures to upload, UPS dropped off a package from Roe at SunRose Aromatics. Roe is a sweet friend who knows I'm a bit of a patch at the moment. She sent several things that I'll talk about later, but this: Palo Santo essential oil!!! I took a sniff, and swear it was an out of body thing. Just for a second there, I wasn't on earth! Best to hit the Publish button before I float off again.....

Herbs of the Zodiac-Virgo!

Bertha Reppert's Herbs of the Zodiac

Today is the beginning of the Virgo birthdays.  I just happen to be a Virgo.  Happy Birthday to my friend, Paula!  Today is her birthday!  The above photo is a great little booklet from Rosemary House and Bertha Reppert called Bertha Reppert's Herbs of the Zodiac.
 
Bertha writes "Born between August 23 and September 22, Virgoans are orderly, methodical and rarely impulsive.  Patience and perseverance make them accomplish a great deal especially in the fields of literature, drama or music.  Pisces is the ideal partner of Virgo.  (The Herbal Husband is a Pisces.)  They are conservative about food, food preparation and food service, enjoying simplicity and neatness."  (I would rewrite that sentence to say Virgos like to eat, don't like to cook and serve and would rather have someone else cook for them!  The Herbal Husband fits that to a tee!)  My comments are in parentheses.

An Earth sign, ruled by the planet Mercury, Virgo symbolizes the realization of hopes.  You should avoid doubting your capabilities and antagonizing others.  (Ooops!  I think I have done both of those items to avoid!)

Twelve Herbs for Virgoans are wild carrot, bay leaves (a favorite of mine), ferns, sweet marjoram (a favorite of mine), celery, meadowsweet, sorrel, almond (a favorite of mine, Bertha says to eat six every day), lady's mantle (a favorite of mine), hops, rue, and gardenia (a favorite of mine).  Had one birthday dinner last night at T.G.I. Friday's.  Free dessert and I got to eat most of it!  Vanilla Bean Cheesecake!  Very excellent!  Plan on celebrating more!  So happy birthday to all you Virgos out in the world!  Talk to you later.

august weekend ramble

We've been keeping our noses to the grindstone lately around The Essential Herbal, so this weekend it was time to get away and have a little fun.
Original plans for Saturday fell through, so we found ourselves preparing to head out to the Bead Fest in Valley Forge. Before we left, I checked Facebook and saw that there was an herb and rare plant sale on Route 23, posted by Sugarbush Nursery of Mohnton, PA. We decided we could swing by there on the way home.
Bead Fest was interesting - although there are only so many tables full of beads I can stand to look at before starting to get terminally bored. Finally we veered to the back of the building and found one of the glass companies that my sister was looking for - something about "double helix glass". Can't wait to see what she comes up with using them. Hopefully we'll be seeing it soon over at TorchSong Studio! The guys at the booth were pretty much fun to kid around with, and I wound up with several Elvis stickers (some art glass promotion) that I promised to plaster inside donut shops. The conference center was filling up, we had pretty much what we came for, so we were out of there inside an hour.
A quick few miles down the road, and we found the plant sale. Interestingly, both of our cameras cut out during the plant sale. Neither of us were able to take any pictures. There were some really nice plants there! Lots of woodland natives, shrubs, hostas, unusual evergreens, and then we got to Sugarbush. She had some gorgeous stuff, and I immediately scooped up some bottle gentian, and a pleurisy root/butterfly weed. As I was preparing to pay, I saw a pot holding just a small mat of green with a tag that said "bluets, Houstonia" and grabbed it! Spending a spring in VA one year, I awoke one morning to find that the entire yard had been transformed into a carpet of tiny blue stars - it was bluets. Later, Betsy May (a friend, and one of our writers) and I spent some time searching for these. I sent her the information immediately upon returning home!
Back on the road, we drove on past Susan Hess' Farm at Coventry - but the driveway was filled with cars, so we knew she was having a class and drove on.
Right up the road a few miles we saw a sign for St. Peter's Village to the right. It was well past lunch time, so we decided to see if we could grab a bite there. We had a really nice time sitting on the patio of The Inn at St Peter's, looking down over the granite boulders with a spring running through them. So well fed were we that we stopped in the village bakery and managed to leave without making a purchase. Looking back, it's hard to believe we could resist those magnificent confections!
Later at home, I cleaned a big basket full of elderberries to dry and gathered lots of lime basil.
Just hanging out for the evening with the guinea fowl....Molly went off to work at the Renaissance Faire this morning, but returned home at noon because of the weather and lack of a crowd. I told her to jump in the shower, and she could go along to The Gem Miner's Jubilee in Lebanon.
I enjoy this show more than a typical bead show because they have lots of nice specimens of rocks. Big geodes, unusual crystal formations, rare minerals, fossils, and some pretty cool stuff. I almost always find something that makes me feel like I discovered treasure. Today that treasure was strands of myrrh beads from Sumatra. They are beautiful, handstrung, smoothed by hand, and very fragrant. I bought all the dealer had - and it wasn't very much! They will be going on the website tomorrow. Molly got a nice green amber ring, Maryanne found a stone she's been looking for, and I also picked up some nice leopard jasper and a couple of tiny carved figurines that will go into a special little bag.
Tomorrow we'll get back to work on By the Hearth. Just one or two more articles to type in, and then it's going to get put into chapters, we'll insert pictures - and do a good bit of editing. Late September release date is breathing down our necks!

The Blooming Rosemary and Mint!

Love The Rosemary in Bloom!

Always exciting when the rosemary starts to bloom.  Last season we put this prostrate rosemary in a container and it wintered over as you might remember in the garage.  Now it is blooming!  Always a great thing!

The silver mint is also in bloom and the bees love it.  It is also in a container!  The only way to grow.  However, I didn't listen to my own advice!  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  It finally rained last night and may cool off this week.  We need a break from the high heat and humidity.  Talk to you later.  My last Gardenline of the season tomorrow!

A Blooming Silver Mint!

quote paradise

" What was Paradise?
But a Garden,
An orchard of trees,
and Herbs
Full of pleasure, and
Nothing there but Delights."
- William Lawson

Sometimes It's All About the Food!

The First Apple Pie of the Season!

It looks a little over done in the photo (I think The Herbal Husband cranked up the temperature in the oven and I keep forgetting!  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!), but our friends, Jim and LaVerne enjoyed it when we went to celebrate Jim's birthday a couple of weeks ago.  It was enjoyed by all.  I had to come home and make another for us.  I use an old Betty Crocker recipe and one teaspoon of apple spice mix from Penzeys.  I use the roll out pie crusts and I know how to do Martha's crusts.  Her recipe for apple pie is one of the best because she uses a combination of apples.  She also makes her pie cold and bakes it hot.  I think that is the best tip.  We have Granny Smith and Liberty apples in our yard. You know now that I finally get the hang of the crust, he would rather have store bought crust!  It drives me nuts, but not to drink! Remember he likes CoolWhip!  Close your ears, Tufa Girl!  Enough said!

My Farmhouse Kitchen with the pumpkin post has inspired fall to arrive.  Her blog was one of the first I spied with an apple pie!  Her blog is just a favorite on my page so I can see the enthusiasm for cooler weather.   Then there was Boston Bee.  She had a big bite of delicious looking pie that her son, Will helped her eat the other day!  Great minds think alike!  Here's to a slice of apple pie or any kind of pie wherever you may be!  It is still going to be in the 90's today!  Yikes!  When will it end?  Hopefully soon.  Talk to you later!

quote dragonflies

And forth on floating gauze, no jewelled queen,

So rich the green-eyed dragonflies would break

And hover on the flowers - aerial things;

With little rainbows flickering on their wings

- Jean Ingelow

Spending The Day with Rick Darke!

Our Wild Front Garden!

Rick Darke spent the day in Pittsburgh talking about his expanded edition of the William Robinson book, The Wild Garden.  As you can see, we may be one step ahead of him.  I think we need a big edit, but for the most part, I think we are on the right track.  The Herbal Husband loves his plants and does not think we need any editing.  My friend, Shelley, who went to the lecture said, The Herbal Husband should have come along!  Ooops!  If you ever have the chance to hear Rick Darke, do it!  Very entertaining and informative and may be you will feel your garden is on the right track as well.  Another hot one today!  Looking forward to fall.  Talk to you later!

The Side Gate of the Front Garden

Cheep Rooms on Thursdays and Herbs at the Zoo!

This is a cheep room in the pollinator garden at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium.  Miss C and I had a fun time power walking through the Zoo.  The rhino was in a hurry trying to eat his lunch.

We barely got to see the baby elephant running back for her lunch!

Momma and baby giraffes out for a walk

I discovered not quite an herb garden, but these are chives by the gift shop to the Aquarium.  Always a good thing to find herbs in the landscape.  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  Talk to you later.

quote August

"A spell lies on the garden. Summer sits

With finger on her lips as if she heard

The steps of Autumn echo on the hill.

A hush lies on the Garden. Summer dreams

Of timid crocus thrust through drifted snow."

- Gertrude H. McGiffert, from The Garden In August

Herbal Fruit Salad!

We always start our day with a fruit salad of some kind.  Sometimes it is a fruit cup from a plastic container, but most times we have fresh fruit.  We are having great blueberries, strawberries, cantaloupe and papaya.    I have been adding some young  pineapple sage leaves chopped up lately!  Adds a little herbal spice to the fruit.  Not so much pineapple, but that sage flavor.  It is very delicious!  Try it if you are growing pineapple sage.  Ours is just getting started.  So use small, young leaves!  Hope you enjoy it!  It was a beautiful day here.  Hope you had a great day!  Talk to you later!

Just wanted to give Missy from Little Messy Missy  a photo of pineapple sage.  Here it is Missy:

Pineapple Sage Flowers Bring The Hummingbirds!

First flower for my Baikal Scullcap

As long as I posted this on Facebook, I thought, why not post it here on the old, long-neglected blog? Sorry I've been away so long - life has taken me on another turn of the path, and I have needed to recollect some parts of myself, so to speak.
I know, I speak in metaphors only I understand. Wish it was easier :\

Well, on to the plant story... I was cutting back my germander this morning and suddenly thought to check out how the single scullcap seedling I planted this spring was doing. There she was, blooming under the angelica!

Pretty flower, eh? It's just bloomed :)
The root is what is used in Chinese medicine ... but, but this baby is too pretty to dig up!

Only this variety is the one FBF herbalists don't (apparently from the conversation) enthuse about, Scutellaria baicalensis. Coincidentally while looking up any reference to it I read in Tierra's The Herbs of Life that germander is a common adulterant in commercially sold scullcap.
I do love coincidences.

glass totems

I've been gluing scavenged glass from yard sales, gifts, and the resale shops into yard art! Check 'em out:

It's Not Summer Without....

Sweet corn and a bit of herb butter!  My dental floss is working overtime these days!  The corn has been delicious.  I think this is Silver Queen, not quite as sweet as Butter and Sugar which we have also been eating.  Here is my favorite herb butter recipe:

Herbal Butter
1/2 c. (1 stick) of butter or margarine, softened
1/2 t. lemon juice
3 T. fresh herbs, chopped (your choice) (I usually use 1 T. parsley, 1 T. marjoram and 1 T. rosemary.)
1 clove of garlic, pressed (You don't have to add this to have a good herb butter.  The garlic just adds an additional layer of flavor.)

Finely chop herbs and mix into softened butter, add other ingredients.  Put in a covered container.  Refrigerate for 24 hours before using.  Herb butter may be kept refrigerated for two weeks or frozen for up to six months.  Put butter on vegetables, pasta, fish, meat, poultry, bread, etc.
Courtesy of  Spring and Summer Sampler, p. 10.

Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  Made two batches of lemon basil jelly.  Going to the Zoo tomorrow with Miss C!  Will have some photos tomorrow!  Talk to you later!

back to the elderberry patch

Last year at this time, I put together a post with a lot of recipes using elderberries, and just to save anyone looking a little time (including me...) am reposting the link here: http://ym-health.blogspot.com/2009/09/el-der-berry.html
Later on last fall, I started making candy with elderberries and some other herbs, and put the recipes and instructions together in an article for the Jul/Aug issue of The Essential Herbal. Since it is time to get busy on some of these, and they are so much fun to make, I'm going to post that here, too.
A Spoonful of Sugar - Making Herbal Candy
A couple of years ago, Marty Webster wrote about making horehound lozenges, and the instructions were very inspirational for me. Before I knew it, all kinds of ideas were running through my head!
Oh, it started simply enough.... what about elderberry? Maybe something relaxing? Oh! And Holy Basil "on the go"!
All you need is a candy thermometer, a large, heavy pan, and an afternoon. A helper for cutting in the end helps too.
When I was a kid, one of my best friends was from a large farming family, and they had an interesting side business. They made hard candies in about 15 flavors. On candy making nights, I would often stay overnight and help, because many hands were needed. In their basement, they had a stove, and would set 4 kettles filled with sugar, water, and Karo syrup to boil. There was a ping-pong table (probably reinforced) that took up most of the room, and we were stationed all around the table with heavy shears. The table was dusted with confectioners sugar. The father would heave a marble slab up onto the head of the table. As the first kettle reached the right temperature, he'd pour the molten mixture onto the slab, and work it with paint scrapers. Then he'd add the color and flavor and continue to fold the sweet, thickening mixture together. Finally, he'd start to cut it into fat 1/2" wide strips, and toss them out to us to cut into bite-sized pieces. It had to be cut quickly before hardening, but those first few strips were soft and very warm. We would always sample a piece or two. Quality testing at its finest. By the end of the night, there would be bins full of candy, and a bunch of kids high on sugar.
These memories also inspired me. I'm sure that that production set-up would not satisfy today's regulations, but it sure was fun.
The recipe I use is:
3/4 to 1 cup of strongly infused herbal "tea"
2 1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
I have not had a chance to experiment with honey, and I believe that one could use all sugar, but this recipe worked well for me. You may want to try a few variations if the corn syrup is objectionable.
To make the tea, I put the herbs, berries, etc., in a pint jar and covered with boiling water, allowing it to steep for several hours. Then I strained it and squeezed the dickens out of the pulp to get all the good stuff. If there is less than a cup of liquid, that's fine.
Put the liquid into a large (at least 2 quart) pan. It bubbles up a lot during cooking, so you need a lot of space.
Add the corn syrup and stir to blend. Add the sugar and turn on medium high heat. Stir only until the sugar is dissolved. Set the thermometer on the side of the pan, with the tip in the liquid, but not touching the bottom of the pan.
Let 'er rip!
While it cooks, grease a 10 x 13 glass cooking dish and put down plastic wrap on a surface where you'll be doing the cutting - probably 2' x 3' is sufficient. Sift confectioners sugar or cornstarch over the plastic wrap.
When the temperature of the candy reaches 300 degrees, turn off the heat and stir briefly.
Pour it into the baking dish. Have something under the dish to protect the counter from heat.
Wait a minute or two, and lift the edge of the candy to see if it can be lifted to cut. When this is possible, use scissors to cut a strip, and toss it out to a waiting helper who will cut it into pieces. This really is difficult to do alone, but it's possible. Keep cutting the strips until it is finished.
If the candy in the baking dish hardens before you've finished, you can place it into the oven and heat it, but it will probably stick to the dish. I've taken out the whole piece that is leftover, melted it in another pan, and repoured it into the original baking dish. Clean-up is easy, hot water dissolves the candy.

Here are the infusions I started with:

Elderberry Bits
1 cup fresh elderberries
2 slices ginger
zest from one lemon

Lemon Balm Bombe
3/4 cup freshly picked lemon balm
1/4 cup freshly picked passionflower leaves, flower, tendrils
1/4 cup blueberries
zest from one lemon
20 drops of lemon eo just before pouring into baking dish
Tulsi Twist
3/4 cup freshly picked holy basil
1/4 cup dried goji berries
1/4 cup freshly picked chocolate mint

Herbalicious Medley
juice and zest from one orange and one lemon
1/4 cup holy basil
1/4 cup elderberry
2 slices ginger
3 rose geranium leaves
sprig of lemon thyme
sprig of rosemary
sprig of lemon verbena
1/4 cup mint
2 pods cardamom

I hope you give herbal candy making a try, and if you do, let me know what you made!

quote flowers

"For myself, I like having flowers to smell when I walk in the garden, flowers to cut for the house, flowers to share with friends. Having these in abundance proves the methods of my madness to be working well, and well worthwhile."
- Susan Urshel

The Herbal Husband Wanted You to See This!

I take so many photos and I know a lot of them are on the cutting room floor.  I forget that they exist or I try to give you the same photo and call it a new one!  The Herbal Husband was playing in the dirt the other day and asked that I take a photo.  Well, here is some finished compost.  If you aren't composting, you should be unless there are ordinances against it where you live.  If you are doing compost correctly, it never smells.  Here is a compost link from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.  They used a Rodale source.  So I think it is pretty good.  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  Got to get to the post office with my winners' prizes.  Becca, I still need your mailing address.  E-mail it to me!  Talk to you later!