Ladies and
gentlemen, something has to be done. It is in your power to harness the balm of
Summer days and to preserve it for dark wintertime enrichment. I’m not saying
it will cure your Seasonal Affective Disorder but it will give you a memory boost
of the best kind, sense memory. No doubt you have experienced an evocation of pleasant
times and places from your past with the slightest encounter of a fragrance or
taste. Hello. Does “comfort food” ring a bell? Personally, I have had many encounters
with this phenomenon through sense of smell, whether food-borne or not. The
aroma of a cooking pork roast garnished with rosemary take me right to a
certain place. That’s a predictable effect. What can be so startling is the
unanticipated voyage conceived when entering a room, walking into a store,
passing a hedge or by many more highly personal circumstances. I am talking
about enjoyable trips, though there is room in our brain sense for every kind
of association. May all your similar journeys be agreeable.
You probably have
an herb plant or two that you have been nursing and singing to. If you are
tempted at the end of summer to bring them into the house to “winter over”, you
are setting yourself up for disappointment. Very few homes have conditions that
are conducive to this approach. If you have a solarium then go for it, but by
and large there is no replacement for the sun, rain and temperature that summer
affords. Expect the little dears to linger for a month or two, to become pale
and leggy and to slowly lose their vigor, no matter that you provide a
cherished sunny window over the kitchen sink.
What we need to
do is to dry their essence for use later and that means making little bundles
for upside down drying in a cool dry and dark place. The bundles should be small
and not densely packed in order to encourage air circulation. Larger plants
such as rosemary, lavender, oregano and tarragon can stand to be in bigger
bunches because of their branching shape. That goes for chamomile and lemon
balm also, but the idea is to err on the side of small packets. Hang them in a
shed or an attic if you have one as long as the air doesn’t get too hot, driving
off all the essential oils. Don’t hang them in the kitchen where higher
humidity levels are likely. One exception to this is that ignored space on top
of the refrigerator. An open wicker basket there will reward you in mid-December
when you remember that that is where you put the lavender and just in time for
holiday bouquets!
If your plants
have flowered, it is too late to dry them. Some mysterious enzymatic
transformation takes place once they have flowered and their oils can become pungent,
even bitter. (Dill is somewhat of an exception since the flavor is retained in
the seeds.) A good example of planning ahead is to strip basil branches from
your plant as it grows. Capturing the quintessence of this sovereign of herbs
is a real challenge. It is all too easy to drive off the volatile oil with a
deficient drying technique and to be left with blackened and flavorless sprigs.
Once your herbs are dry and crisp to the
touch, strip them or snip them from their stems onto clean newsprint and then
funnel them into containers that do not allow light to penetrate and which are
capable of retaining a tight seal. The winter blahs don’t stand a chance
against these wholesome and aromatic remedies. As tea or flavoring, they are
your dreamy reminders of sweet Summer.
Hugs at the
reserve desk, Celeste
