Herbs in the home kitchen are usually restricted to dusty glass jars of oregano and thyme, and at the very best a bunch of cilantro from the supermarket. The freshness of both dried and living herbs cam easily separate a home cooked meal from a restaurant quality one.
Restaurants turn over their dried herbs much faster than the average home cook does. I’ve seen people easily go through a 1LB container of dried thyme in a week. Compare this to home, where that dusty McCormicks jar has been sitting in the back of the cupboard for 3 years.
Home cooks are often unable to source fresh herbs in a cost effective manner. This is the other point where the use of herbs can effect the quality of a dish. Fresh is often best, and restaurants can often pay to use only the best available.
The home cook has two good options here:
- Set up a small garden, and only pick what’s needed. This will give you the freshest, and often most delicious herbs you’ve ever tasted.
- Buy those expensive packets of herbs, use what you need, and dry the rest. Leftover herbs can easily be dried in the microwave. Put the herbs on a paper towel lined plate, and place another paper towel on top. Microwave in bursts of 30 seconds to 1 minute, usually for 3-4 minutes total to dry. Let cool and package into container or zip top bags. Your home made freshly-dried herbs will taste much better than what’s available at the store.
Fresh herbs are wonderful ingredients that can add loads of flavour to your dishes, but they come at an often inflated cost. I’ve seen two 6 inch long twigs of thyme go for up to $5!