Get creative with herbs

Copious crops? These culinary ideas will help you cope with a herb glut

Get creative with herbs

Make a vinegar Take a clean jar, fill loosely with your herb, add vinegar to the top, close tightly and leave to steep for 4–6 weeks. strain, then use in marinades or salads.
 As a rule, stronger herbs go well in red wine vinegar; if the herb will colour the liquid, opt for white.

Add to drinks Add mint with cucumber and lemon to water and infuse for 10 mins in the fridge for a great hot-weather quencher. Add handfuls of parsley, dill or basil to juices for a health and flavour boost.

Freeze them in ice cubes to add to meals when fresh supplies are low Fill ice trays about 1/4 full of filtered water, fill with your freshest leaves, then cover with water.

Want to know what to grow? Jekka McVicar’s knowhow is second to none. Here are her top tips.

• Oregano is the easiest herb to grow in poor, dry conditions. It is happy to be planted in the type of soil that other herb varieties wouldn’t put up with.

• Supermarket herbs are best on window sills. Amazing as it sounds, they’re actually raised to cope with indoor conditions. Pick leaves regularly and don’t let them dry out or, indeed, overwater them.

• Contrary to what you might think, coriander is a bit of a tricky customer. It needs shade as well as a rich, fertile soil that doesn’t dry out.

• The easiest herbs to grow from seed are rocket, purslane or dill. They will put on a good show whether sown in trays or directly into the ground.

• Mint is easy to propagate. It’s the best herb to try if you’re new to taking cuttings.

• Plant parsley this month. Sow directly into the soil by the end of August for fresh pickings through winter.

Turn to page 90 of August’s The Simple Things for more herbs. Buy or download your copy now.

Jekka McVicar's useful but less obvious herbs

Read our feature on Jekka McVicar (page 90 of August's The Simple Things)? Add her suggestions for useful but less obvious herbs to your shopping list.

1. Borage (Borago officinalis)

This frost-hardy annual has attractive, star-shaped, blue flowers in summer which can be used in drinks and salads. Its young leaves pep up salads and mature leaves can be cooked to make a delicious summer soup (chill first). Height: 60cm.

2. Celery leaf (Apium graveolens)

A hardy biennial with tiny, green-white flowers in the summer of the second year. The leaves have a strong celery flavour and young ones are good in salads or as a flavouring in soups and sauces. It is also used medicinally to ease osteo-arthritis. Height: 30cm-1m.

3. Myrtle (Myrtus communis)

The small white flowers of this frost-hardy, evergreen shrub have golden stamens in summer followed by blue/black berries in autumn. Its dark-green, shiny, oval, aromatic leaves are good with roast, pork and game dishes and delicious sprinkled on roast vegetables. Height: up to 3m.

4. Red Orach (Atriplex hortensis var. rubra)

Use the young dark red leaves of this hardy annual in salads or cook its mature leaves like spinach. One word of warning: it's an enthusiastic self seeder! Height: 1m.

5. Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)

A hardy perennial with large flat umbels of small yellow flowers in summer followed by aromatic edible seeds and soft green feathery foliage. Complements fish, pork and salads. Height: up to 2.1m.

6. Winter Savory (Satureja montana)

The small white flowers of this hardy perennial are tinged with pink in summer. The dark green, linear, pungent leaves are good for salt-free diets. Height: 30cm.

Image: Jason Ingram

For more on Jekka McVicar, buy or download your copy of August's The Simple Things.

Jekka's Herbetum Open Days

Don’t miss the chance to sneak a peak behind the scenes of Jamie Oliver’s favourite herb grower, with open days at Jekka McVicar’s new Herbetum in South Gloucestershire.

Over the last 3 years Jekka has slowly transformed her working nursery into a beautiful display garden that showcases over 300 different culinary herbs in rather stylish (and practical) wooden raised beds. It’s said to be the biggest display of its kind in the UK so you’ll find plenty of inspiration about which herbs you can try in your garden, balcony or window sill.

Jekka takes two mini-tours of her Herbetum during the day, so you have plenty of opportunity to ask her advice and pick up tips about growing herbs as well as taste some of the varieties used in a delicious selection of homemade cakes as well as herbal teas on offer in their tearoom.

Look out for the August issue of The Simple Things, featuring Jekka's herb garden planting plans.

Jekka McVicar’s Herbetum Open Days:

13, 25 & 26 July, 10am - 4pm

(13 July opens for the NGS and a £5 entry fee goes to the charity)

Find out more.

Words: Cinead McTernan

Photograph of Jekka McVicar: Jason Ingram