Things to do with herbs

Don’t wait til the end of the growing season to preserve your herbs. Around this time of summer, some herbs start to show signs of bolting. As soon as you see the first little sign of bolt on your basil, chop it back. Get some of those side leaves off. You’ll force some new growth and get some bounty to boot. But you don’t have to wait for things to bolt. Harvest your herbs frequently and do small bits of preserving throughout the growing season. Yesterday, I did just that and came away with some basil, lemon verbena, tarragon and thyme.
The latter two, I’m just plain old drying on the counter. The verbena was infused into a simple sugar syrup, to be used as a flavoring in water or soda and to flavor any fresh fruit compote that may need a boost. Use your imagination. You could put a bit in a tea cup and add hot water. Voila! Herbal tisane. Make a pound cake and generously brush your herbal syrup on it. Let it soak in. I’m all ears for any other uses anyone can think of.
Also, don’t just stick with one herb. As the syrup was steeping, I threw in the stripped stems of basil and a couple of springs of lemon thyme. Lemon verbena is almost too intensely sweet on it’s own. Making a sugar syrup is so easy. I just eyeball about a cup or so of sugar, cover it with cold water, stir it once or twice while bringing it up to a simmer, turn the heat off, throw in the herbs, cover it and then let it steep. After it cools, strain it into a nice bottle and store it in the fridge. It should last at least several weeks.

The basil and thyme gave it a hint of complexity, without taking over.