Dry herbs for winter use

I recently harvested herbs from my garden. Herbs are an important staple in my kitchen. I add them to my evening tea or as added flavor to our meals. Here are some of my favorites.

Lemon balm is true to its name. This plant has a very strong lemon scent and provides a nice subtle lemon flavor. My plant grew about two foot tall this year. Since this is a tender perennial and will mostly likely not survive our winter, I typically harvest the entire plant. I add a couple leaves to many types of tea, including black and lavender.

Lavender is quickly becoming my favorite evening tea. I grow lots of lavender in my garden. The mild floral scent is heavenly and therapeutic. Studies have shown that just smelling lavender can reduce anxiety. Lavender is a perennial plant here and should survive a central Illinois winter. It does prefer a well-drained soil, however, and can die out in early spring if the roots stay wet too long. Since I’m leaving all my plants in my garden, I only harvest the flowers and longer shoots.

Mint is also a perennial plant, but it can be very invasive in a garden. I grow most of my plants in containers, placed where roots cannot escape into other parts of my yard. The opposite of lavender, mint is considered a “pick-me-up” herb. The slightly crusted whole leaves add zing to water, iced-tea, and mojitos. Spearmint is the traditional mint for use in mint juleps and mint tea.

Sage is a staple of my herb garden. I use it fresh and dried. Dried ground sage is a required ingredient in my meatloaf and turkey stuffing. I’ve been using the fresh leaves this summer to make a sage tea and a hair rinse. It tastes just like turkey stuffing and is surprisingly good. This is also a perennial plant that overwinters here. I cut a few leaves off the plants and leave the rest to overwinter. Sometimes I use sage leaves to make decorative wreaths. Once the leaves are dry, grind them in a mixer, food processor, or coffee grinder.

Stevia is a natural sweetener that is grown as an annual plant in our climate. Therefore, I usually harvest the entire plant. Once the leaves are dry, they are crushed to release stevia’s sweetening power. Homegrown stevia lacks the potency of refined white stevia extract available in grocery stores. Still, I find that my homegrown stevia sweetens my herbal teas just fine.

Be sure to cut and dry your herbs so that you can use them all winter. Good air circulation is the key to successfully drying herbs. Sometimes drying is easier if the leaves are stripped from the stems and dried on screens or in food dehydrators. This year I dried most of my herbs in a food dehydrator, but I also like to use mesh metal baskets, wicker baskets, paper towels, paper bags, and more. When dry, store the herbs in airtight container and use regularly. Be sure not to use any pesticides on herbs you harvest to eat.  

Below is a video I made a few years ago that demonstrates how I dry herbs. 

It’s Grape Pie Time!

I love the taste of Concord grapes. As a child, I remember eating grapes directly from the vines. To me, there is no flavor comparison between concord grapes and store-bought grapes. I especially like concord wine and concord grape pie!

Concord grapes grown in central Illinois are quite different from most store-bought grapes. Our native Concord and Niagara grapes are slip-skin types, which means that the skin easily slips away from the fruit pulp. Most store grapes are native to Europe and are called fixed skin varieties because the skin and pulp are all in one.

Here are some tips for harvesting the best grape. First, make sure your grapes are ripe before you harvest to assure that the grape is fully sweet.

A grape’s color change is not always the best indication of ripeness. Most berries change from green to blue, red or white (depending on the cultivar) as they approach maturity. Many grape cultivars turn a ripe color before their flavor fully sweetens. When fully ripe, the natural bloom or whitish coating on the berries will become more noticeable. The color of the seeds changes from green to brown.

Second, consider the size and firmness of the berry before harvest. It's helpful to be familiar with your cultivar's characteristics, but most grapes should become slightly less firm to the touch.

Finally, the best way to tell if a grape is ripe is to taste it. Unlike some other fruits, grapes do not ripen further once cut from the vine. So, be sure the grapes are ready before you harvest.

Grapes don't require direct sunlight on the fruits to ripen and develop good color. Rather, it is the amount of light that reaches the plant's leaves that determines the quality of the fruit. The leaves create the sugars that move into the fruit.

Once you've decided to harvest, you can store the grapes for about eight weeks. Refrigerators are a good place to store grapes. A crisper with a damp towel over the top of the fruit is ideal.

If you have an abundance of grapes, try making them into jellies, jams, juice, or wine. My family especially likes grape pie. Grape pie is time-consuming to make, but worth every bite! 

Here is my recipe from our Kinsel Family Favorites 2009 cookbook. 

My son Tyler helping make grape pie in 2000. 

My son Derek helping make grape pie in 2000.

The Incredible Edible Elderberry

I have always loved elderberries. As a kid there was an elderberry bush outside my bedroom window. I waited patiently each summer for the first berry clusters to ripen. I’d eat them right off the plant whenever I walked or mowed past the delicious, though tart, fruit.

Our native American elder (Sambucus canadensis) is commonly found along roadways, in ditches, and along woodlands. It grows very well in our dry, hot summers. This plant grows 8 to 10 feet tall and wide, and can be a bit scraggly unless kept under control. The 5 to 12 inch creamy white flowers in June and July are followed by tasty ¼ inch purple-black fruit in August and September.

Elderberries sucker and spread and therefore work best when used in naturalized landscapes. This versatile plant also works well in in shrub borders, roadside plantings, as a screen, in edible landscapes, to attract wildlife, or as part of a native plant garden.

Elderberry fruit is used in preserves, jellies, pies, and syrup. My mom made a delicious elderberry jam, which was amazing on her homemade biscuits. It also makes delightful drinks, including immunity tea, sparkling water, kombucha, wine, craft beer, and cordials. Elton John, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Rolling Stones, and even Prince referred to elderberry wine in their songs.

Last weekend I harvested elderberries that grow on our property. A 5-gallon bucket of picked berries with stems yielded about 10 cups of berries. I made 4 cups into syrup and I dried 6 cups for use later in teas. The recipes are below. I only picked half the berries on my shrub, so next year I plan to pick elder-flowers too.

Finally, a word of caution that you might find this plant on some poisonous plant lists. Stick with eating only elder flowers and fruit because other parts, especially the roots, can be quite poisonous.  

Dried elderberries

Dry fresh elderberries in a dehydrator, oven, or in the sun. I used a dehydrator on medium-high setting for 10-12 hours, then placed them in a glass jar. (6 cups fresh berries produced 5 ounces dry berries. I’ve paid up to $20/pound for dry berries in the past.).

For tea, infuse (steep) 1 teaspoon of dried berries for 5 minutes. Add honey to taste. This is a great immunity builder.

Elderberry syrup (tonic)

4 cups berries (1:1 water to berry ratio for fresh and 2:1 for dried)

4 cups water

4 tablespoons fresh grated ginger

1 ½ cinnamon sticks

1 tablespoon whole cloves

1 cup honey (more if like it sweeter)

10 cups fresh elderberries produced
3 cups syrup and 1 pint dry berries. 

1.      Bring berries, water, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves to a boil on the stove. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes (longer if you want thicker syrup). Let cool.

2.      Strain the liquid from the berries using a sieve, colander, food mill, or other straining device. Press to get all the liquid out. If still not all liquid, do a final strain through cheese cloth.

3.      Add sweetener (raw honey, real maple syrup, sugar, or other).

Use as a pancake syrup or as a winter tonic to build immunity against flu, colds, and upper respiratory infections. I take 1-tablespoon 3 times a day, or alternate with an elderberry-echinacea tea.

Disclaimer: always discuss herbal supplements, including teas and tonics, with your doctor before using them. Research is inconclusive in the scientific community about many herbal supplements.

Growing Pinto Beans

This year I planted a three-sisters garden, which consist of sweet corn, climbing beans, and squash. I chose pinto and lima beans for my climbing beans, and they are doing very well.

Pinto beans are one of many different types of dry beans, including black, kidney, northern, and more. They are not commonly grown in the home garden but are very easy to grow.

I purchased mine from the Vermont Bean Seed Company. Their catalog lists the pinto bean as a 90-day, half-runner-type pole bean. The light green pods are lightly striped pink and quite pretty. They produce a medium sized bean that is light beige specked with brown. I planted mine on May 27, 2020.

I was able to harvest most of them on August 4^th. Since a half-runner-type bean is part bush and part pole bean, it produced pods closer to the ground. The new growth continued to climb upward on the corn plants in my three-sisters garden.

I harvested the bean pods that were completely dry, with dry beans inside. A small dishpan produced about a half pound of shelled beans. Since they were dry the beans came out of the pods very easily.

I was so excited about my first pinto bean harvest that I brought them right to the kitchen to cook. After cleaning, I boiled them about 10 minutes and let sit for an hour (in lieu of an overnight soak), then drained them. After adding 2-3” of water above the beans, the beans were boiled with a small white onion (also from my garden) and a bay leaf. After about an hour the beans were soft, but not broken.

They taste wonderful alone, but I plan to add barbecue flavor to make a sort of baked bean. I also really like pinto beans as vegetarian refried beans or as a bean dip that includes tomato, chives, and cilantro.

My first experience growing pinto beans was so successful that I plan to grow them again next year, in an even bigger three-sister garden!

Midsummer Vegetable Gardens

Are you enjoying the “fruits of your labor” from your vegetable garden this summer? With proper care, vegetable gardens provide fresh produce well into the fall.

Watering 3-Sisters Garden with upright sprinkler

Although we had too much rain in June, July began quite dry. It is essential to keep plants watered consistently during the heat of summer. On average, plants need one inch of water per week and this may need to be stepped up to one inch every five days during the heat of summer. Watering is the most important maintenance item, so don't skimp on it. Soak the soil thoroughly to a depth of at least 6 inches rather than sprinkling the garden lightly.

If you did not mulch in spring, consider doing it now. Most vegetables benefit from mulching, including tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, beans, and potatoes. Besides controlling weeds, the mulch will save moisture, keep the soil temperature more even, and keep the fruits clean. The many types of mulch include leaves, grass clippings, straw, cardboard, newspaper, and black plastic.

Straw mulch

Pests are one the biggest frustration for home vegetable gardeners. When possible, use disease-resistant varieties. Crop rotation every 3 to 4 years is also very effective for many insect and diseases problems. This is done by moving vegetable types to other areas of the garden or yard.

New gardeners sometimes wonder when they should begin harvesting their product. This varies from crop to crop, but there are some tips that will help the produce stay fresh and tasty longer. Avoid bruising or damaging them, because injury encourages decay. Most vegetables last longer if they are place in cool storage immediately. In particular, sweet corn loses its sweet flavor quickly if it is not cooled as soon as possible.

Arugula, Swiss card, cucumber, baby carrot, and yellow squash

If you have harvested part of your garden, now is the time to begin your fall garden. A fall garden extends your supply of fresh vegetables. Unfortunately, a successful fall garden demands additional work and planning at a time when you are busiest. Irrigation is usually necessary and weeds grow quickly at this time. But the pleasure you can derive from a fall garden far outweighs the extra effort involved in planning and planting it.

The midsummer planting usually takes place from July 10-20 and could include snap beans, beets, broccoli plants, cabbage plants, carrot, cauliflower plants, and okra. From August 1-10 you could also add many cool-crops such as lettuce, mustard greens, turnips, and winter radishes. Spring radishes, spinach, and more leaf lettuce can go in as late as August 25 to September 5.

How is your garden growing?

Beware of Dangerous Carrots!

Last weekend on a motorcycle ride to Wisconsin, I saw many plants in the carrot family (Apiaceae) growing along roadsides. One of my favorite vegetables is the very edible carrot, but unfortunately the carrot family has a number of dangerous, poisonous plants in it too.

The first two dangerous carrots I’ll cover are stomach poisons, which means they are poisonous if eaten.

Poison hemlock's purple spotted stem

Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) is not native to Illinois and was added to the Illinois Exotic Weed list in 2015. It grows four to nine feet tall with four to six inch white flowers. It has a purple spotted, waxy stems. This is the plant I saw most on our ride. I could also smell it every time we rode past a good stand of it, which was usually at bridge crossings. Poison hemlock has a disagreeable “mousy” odor. The entire plant is poisonous if ingested.

Water hemlock (Conium maculate) is considered by many to be the most poisonous plant in the northern temperate zone. Only a small amount of the toxic substance in the plant is needed to produce poisoning in animals or in humans. This native plant grows three to six foot tall with 6 inch white flowers and purple-streaked stout stems. All parts of this plant are poisonous, especially the roots.

The next three dangerous carrots cause photo-dermatitis. Cow parsnip, wild parsnip, and giant hogweed contain an allergen that is activated by sunlight to cause rash, blisters, or other skin irritations in susceptible people.

Cow Parsnip (Heracleum lanatum) is a native plant that can reach eight feet tall. Like the hemlocks, its flowers are white, but cow parsnip flowers are larger, growing to 10 inches across. The large flowers were obvious as we rode past them on the motorcycle.

Wild parsnips

Wild Parsnip flower

       Wild Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) has large yellow flowers that are about five inches across. It is a stout plant that grows to five feet tall with grooves along its stem. I know a few people, including my sister, whom are very allergic to this plant.

Giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) is the worst of the three that cause blisters in the sun. This plant lives up to its name as a giant. It grows 15 feet tall with five foot leaves and 2 ½ foot white umbel flowers. Its massive size makes it desirable to some home gardeners, but it is a public hazard that causes severe skin irritation in susceptible people. A USDA pamphlet says this plant’s sap produces painful, burning blisters that later develop dark scars that may persist for years. Fortunately, it has only been found in an isolated location in northwest Illinois, and those plants have been eradicated. Giant hogweed is a federal noxious weed, making it unlawful to propagate, sell or transport this plant in the United States.

Queen Anne's Lace flower

Finally, not all carrots are dangerous. Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota) is also called wild carrot due to its large, edible taproot. It grows four foot tall with lacy four inch flowers. This plant is the ancestor of our cultivated carrot, though its roots are white instead of orange.

Other edible plants in this family grown for their roots are parsnips and bulb fennel. Anise, caraway, celery, chervil, cicely, coriander (cilantro), cumin, dill, fennel, and parsley are grown for their edible leaves and seeds.

Think I’ll eat a salad with lots of carrots for lunch!

Ferns Add Texture to the Shade Garden

I love ferns. Ferns make areas greener and provide interesting texture. The past few years I’ve been working on my fern identification skills. I’ve found many different types of ferns growing in Illinois natural areas (watch for a future blog on this!). For now, Let’s look at a few that are commonly grown in home shade gardens.

Hardy, outdoor ferns are easy to grow and are essential in the woodland garden. Ferns come in all shapes and sizes, but most require similar growing conditions. Nearly all ferns do best in dappled shade. Most ferns require a soil rich in organic matter, with good drainage, and slightly on the acid side. Although most ferns also prefer moisture, there are several that will tolerate dry situations.

The most commonly grown hardy ferns are the lady fern, cinnamon fern, Christmas fern, ostrich fern, and Japanese painted fern.  The lady fern  (Athyrium filix-femina) is easily grown and often found as foundation plantings. It has very lacy leaves, grows 1 to 3 feet tall, and spreads well. It prefers shade but will tolerate some sun as long as the soil is moist.

The cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamonmea) is named for its bright cinnamon-colored fertile fronds. This is a member of a majestic group of quite large ferns called flowering ferns. This fern will grow in the sun or shade but needs moisture and acidic soil. It grows 3-4 feet tall and has attractive fiddleheads in the spring.

The Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) resembles a Boston fern but has much darker leaves and cascades less. It withstands sun or deep shade and grows up to 2 to 3 feet high. This one also doubles as a houseplant. It gets its common name from the fact that the early settlers used it for Christmas decoration.

The ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) has a vase-shaped form and grows 2 to 6 feet tall. Also easy to grow, the ostrich fern tolerates sun to full shade, with moist soil. This is one of the most widely used ferns in temperate gardens.

The Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum ‘Pictum’) is unique due to its exceptional coloring. An interesting addition to any garden, it boasts dark green fronds with silvery centers and red stems. It grows 10-15 inches high. The best color develops on plants in light shade. Too much sun washes out the color. With moist, loose soil it will send up fronds all summer and into the fall.

These are just a few of the hardy ferns available to us. Lush ferns create a cool, calming effect. They are useful in any shady area, along a pond, or in a woodland garden. Also, many tropical ferns are used as annual outdoor plants, but also make beautiful houseplants. Include ferns in your garden: indoors and out.