Demo Day 2017 at the August meeting was a lot of fun. Seven members shared information on a variety of topics. Margaret Dentlinger talked about “Green Sauces”, which include gremolata, chimichurri, pistou, and persillade. She demonstrated how easy it was to use excess basil to make pistou, which was shared with the members.
Marilyne Phelps demonstrated how to make fresh, yummy tabbouleh (which can be spelled various ways). Her tip was that you can use any of a variety of grains in this dish so pick your favorite. Samples were also passed around to the members.
Cheri Belger talked about making cilantro and basil pestos and shared recipes for both. She also talked about how to freeze these. Her tip was to freeze cubes of the pesto in ice cube trays and then wrap each cube in wax paper before putting them in a baggie so they don’t stick together.
Georgia Jones talked about an app that the UNL Extension has been promoting called “Seasonal and Simple”. The app allows you to learn about produce, what is in season, recipes for fresh, frozen and dried as well as how to preserve produce, and where to find local farmer’s markets.
Dianna Lear explained her easy and efficient filing system for keeping information on herbs as well as how to use herbs. She also reminded members that now is the time to start to think about what plants you want to bring in for the winter. Cuttings can be made from just about any plant that you want to winter-over inside. She demonstrated how to make cuttings of scented geraniums and several members took cuttings home with them
Jill Kuhl talked about freezing herbs in a variety of ways, including in butters. She showed a cool ice cube tray from Tupperware in which each cube could be easily extracted from the tray as needed.
Pam Cuttlers talked about herbal and citrus salts. She demonstrated how to make basil salt with fresh basil and lime salt using lime zest. She also showed how easy it is to dry basil in the microwave. This can be done with other herbs as well.
The presenters did a wonderful job and members took home lots of great tips! Thanks to all the presenters and happy harvesting!
Dry Herbs with Microwaves by Deb Martin
For drying modest quantities of herbs, a microwave
oven can work quite well. It may be just the ticket
in humid conditions that make air-drying almost
impossible, and for herbs such as basil that tend to lose
both color and flavor with traditional drying methods.
The key is to monitor the process closely and to adjust
microwaving time and power level according to the
manufaturer’s instructions for yor oven.
First, seperate the leaves from the stems, rinse them if
necessary, and air dry. In Beautiful Easy Herbs (Rodale,
1997), author Laurence Sombke then recommends the
following: “place a single layer of leaves on a paper towel
on a microwave-safe plate. Lay another paper towel
on top, and microwave on high for one minute. Watch
the herbs continually during the drying process, and
stop the oven if you smell the herbs burning. If needed,
repeat the heating for 30 seconds at a time until the
herbs are fully dry.”
On its website (geappliances. com) , GE Appliances
warns against using paper products containing recycled
material in a microwave, since those may include bits of
metal that can arc or ignite.
Because of their relatively low moisture content, herbs
are about the only thing that can be dried successfully
in a microwave oven. Other foods , such as tomatoes
or berries, contain too much moisture and wind up
cooked rather than dried.
Submitted by Pam Cuttlers