Everyone needs a little Thyme

Still impatiently waiting for my seeds to break ground in their little seed pots. It's been 3 days! Feels like forever though. So while we await... let's talk about another herb. Today, I choose thyme because that's another strong herb that my family loves. 

I grow thyme in a pot on my deck, in full sun. Usually I have it sharing the big pot with oregano. They co-exist very nicely!

Just like my rosemary, it loves a good soaking. It is a perennial, but usually I have to replant every year because they like to die on me over the winter. Last year was the first time it survived. And it's looking pretty good for this year as well. Time will tell soon enough!

As with rosemary, I tend to put thyme in everything I cook. Well, just about everything.  It's another strong tasting and scented herb. I don't have a specific recipe that I use with thyme, except my son's favorite, chicken noodle soup. He loves a lot of strong thyme flavor there. And don't forget to spice up the homemade bread to go with that soup, with thyme as well!

I'll leave you here again with some more "factoids" for thyme.

• Oil of thyme, the essential oil of common thyme (Thymus vulgaris), contains 20–54% thymol. Thymol, an antiseptic, is the main active ingredient in various commercially produced mouthwashes such as Listerine. Thymol can also be found as the active ingredient in some all-natural, alcohol-free hand sanitizers.
• A tea made by infusing the herb in water can be used for coughs and bronchitis.
• Also used for clairvoyance, cleansing, courage, healing, protection and purification.

Lovely Lavender

Since I spoke about my favorite herb yesterday, rosemary, I thought it would be a good time to chat about lavender. Lavender is from the same family as rosemary. They look a lot alike. A few years ago, I replaced most of my rose bushes that were growing around our deck. We kept getting the Japanese beetles all over the roses, so we decided to replace them with another one of my favorite flowers, lavender! It's a great perennial that grows into nice aromatic, flowery bushes. Besides smelling pretty, I use the flowers from lavender in cooking. They are easy to collect and dry for future use. I've made lavender ice cream, jelly, scones and in spice mixes. I spoke yesterday about making rosemary bread and using lavender jelly on it. Since I shared my bread recipe, I'll also share my lavender jelly recipe.

Lavender Jelly

• 4 cups distilled water

• 4 tablespoons dried lavender flowers

• 1/4 cup lemon juice

• 4 cups of sugar

• 1 3oz packet liquid pectin

Bring the distilled water to a boil
Infuse with 4 tablespoons dried lavender flowers (make sure you didn't use insecticide on them)
Let this infusion steep for 20 minutes, then strain
Combine together 2 cups of the lavender infusion, lemon juice and the sugar
Bring this to a full boil, stirring non-stop.
Then add 1 packet of liquid pectin and boil for one minute.
Then remove from heat
Fill (5 or 6) 1/2 pint sterile jars and seal

When you add the lemon juice to the lavender infusion, the juice all of a sudden turns a pretty pink. It's really a neat thing to see! This jelly has a very delicate flavor. It tastes just like lavender smells! This jelly can lose it's flavor in a few months. So keep it in a cool, dark place, and use it quickly. I bring a jar to family get togethers along with a lightly herb-ed bread. It complements Rosemary Bread beautifully!
 
Steps in processing jams & jellies

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/uga/uga_steps_proc_j_j.pdf

For more info on canning jellies and jams, go to:

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can7_jam_jelly.html

For another recipe that I posted on this blog Herbes de Provence go to: http://suburban-gardening.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html

In closing today, I'll leave you with some lavender "factoids".

Lavender is a frequent addition to healing sachets, especially bath mixtures, and is added to incenses to cause sleep. 

Lavender is a great antibiotic, antidepressant, sedative and detoxify. Stimulates the immune system.

Lavender has long been used in love spells. Clothing rubbed with the fragrant flowers (or Lavender placed in drawers with clothes) attracts love.