LITMIR.BIZ

      This harvest of fresh herbs (left) is every chef's dream. Included are many of the stars of the culinary herb garden; (clockwise from the top) chives, French thyme, purple sage, sage flowers, silver lemon thyme, sage buds, rosemary, and French tarragon. In the middle are sprigs of Italian flat-leaf parsley and the flowers of German chamomile.

      culinary herb gardens

      What a luxury it is to have a garden full of herbs! Even this country's best chefs usually can't match the meals created from such a garden. Imagine having enough lemon thyme or fennel to be able to use the prunings for smoking pheasant or salmon. Think of creating a salad, as if from the heart of France, with fresh tarragon and chervil, or making a Thai salad with real Thai basil. Fresh herbs are the signature of a chef and often a specific cuisine, yet very few markets in this country offer more than a meager selection.

      When I think back on my cooking of years ago, it feels as though I was working in black and white and monaural. The form was there and it was enjoyable, but the depth and richness were missing. Now that I regularly use fresh herbs, I'm cooking in full color and stereo. The zip of fresh mint or the many flavors of thyme give the dishes more dimension. Twenty years ago I started on my herb adventure by adding fresh chives to potato soup and fresh basil to spaghetti sauce. What a difference! I went on to use fresh dill on fish, pesto on pasta, and herb vinegars on salads. Now, after years of exposure to the full range of herbs, and thanks to many people's guidance, I use many more in my cooking, and almost all of them are fresh.