Sunday, November 4, 2007

A sprinkling herb can make all the difference

The connection between music and food has long been defined. Good food, it has often been said, is like good music. It keeps you happy, but clamors for more.

Where there is food, there is flavor. When it comes to reporting flavors, the four herbs – parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme – do a excellent service to food. Parsley is a real versatile herb; you can add it almost anywhere. If you add some parsley to omelets, you just see the difference it makes to it. Parsley, actually, is a dish in itself.

Like parsley, sage is also often eaten on its own. Fresh sage leaves are fried whole and eaten with gnocchi – Italian dumplings, mostly potato-based. The Italians also often flavor the focaccia bread with sage. Sage, of course, is most commonly used in stuffing turkey. But one must be careful while using dried sage as too much of it can make a dish taste unpleasant.

Rosemary goes very well with lamb. If you are roasting lamb, make slits in it and stuff it with rosemary sprigs.

Like the rosemary, thyme is pretty versatile as well. There are different kinds of thyme – including the lemon thyme, good for seasoning seafood and sweets.

The good thing about these four herbs is that they are not just for enhancing flavors. Researchers believe that the herbs have various kinds of curative qualities. Rosemary and sage contain powerful anti-oxidants and are particularly good for digestion. Parsley has high levels of beta-carotene, besides working as an effective mouth-freshener. Thyme does wonders to those suffering from a hangover.

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Originally published in Blurtit.com on 24th September, 2006 20:03
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