Herb Appeal.

What makes your memories of Mints, Sage, and Chives?

Here we are on our fourth and final article in our series all about herbs.  We’ve covered the basics and also gone in depth with some of our personal favourite herbs.  Now, in this last installment, we’re digging deep to discover more about mint, sage, and chives!  Let’s gooooo.

The Charming Mint Family

Ahhh mint - love it or hate it, there’s a lot more to the mint family of herbs than flavouring toothpastes and chewing gum! But really the power of mint and all the connotations that come up seem to be from happy memories of childhood and Christmas especially. Now, I’ve mentioned in a past article all about my love for the now defunct Pep peppermint patties.  Not to be confused with the inferior gut churning York peppermint patty, which will make you all kinds of sick when driving across the USA and back to Canada (yes a bag was consumed and yes both my dad and I were ill!).  Now, York patties aside, I find mint is so powerful and polarizing that I can only really bring myself to make my Mint Melt chocolate bark during the Christmas season as it’s definitely seasonal in most peoples’ minds; this could also be mostly self-preservation for both myself and Jason as we would 100% eat all of it if given the chance during the rest of the year and no one would be able to buy any! [Oompa-Loompa note:] As I recall, Colleen has made at least half a dozen iterations of the Mint Xmas Bark. (Double chocolate with crispy crepes, one with crushed candy canes, one made from Phoenix bark and of course the 37% milk chocolate one. Oh and 34% Zephyr white chocolate one, too.) She has also made just ONCE, a custom bar (that had fresh mint in it that I sourced from Lucky 127 supermarket), as well as one or maybe two extracts and some other sorcery! I constantly request she make that one again but keep getting stonewalled so if anyone out there wants to, you know, nudge her on socials, I’d appreciate it!! [JMC] 

A not-so-fun fact though is that there seem to be a lot of people that hate all-things-mint with a fierce passion that I can’t totally understand even if I can relate a little.  Just ask Jason, when we say “we have Mint Melt chocolate bark” at the markets we are met with either “YAY, I love mint!” or something that borders on disgust that we would even say “mint” and “chocolate” in the same sentence.  It seems we have to reassure the customer that our creations do not come on like some awful toothpaste or gum flavour; in the rare instance that we’re sampling at that market most people, even the doubters, are pleasantly and happily surprised. The ever present danger though is that Jason will help himself to all the samples! [Jason note:] I pride myself on quality control! [JMC]  Do you, dear readers, believe chocolate and mint should go together? Where do chocolate mint memories lead you? Let us know in the comments below :)

Back to herbs and the mint family per se - Mints for me are a delight fresh or dried. (That’s dried not fried, remember that for later.) One of my most favourite teas is a mint tea so if you come to the Banff Christmas Market this year (Four Weekends long!!) then you can get your hands on Jolene’s Teas Alpine Peppermint, and you’ll be sure to enjoy a delightfully crafted tea from a local Banff, Alberta company. We’ll be there all four weekends, with our Christmas goodies (and Xmas mint melt bark) so plan ahead and get to Banff for the beauty and magic of Christmas memories in the making!

Also you might be wondering, how is peppermint related to mint?  And, what about spearmint?  Are you going to go all science on us?  Yes we are!  There are technically hundreds of species of mint and as Jason clarified in the last article; remember that the mint family (Lamiaceae family) includes herbs like basil, oregano, marjoram, and sage (which we will get to in a moment), just to name a few.

Did you know that peppermint is actually a newer species of mint and believed to be a cross between spearmint and watermint.  In general all mints are considered to be refreshing, great in either sweet or savoury applications, and useful in so many products from toothpastes to soaps to throat lozenges.  By the way, I  like to say “lozengers” and then Jason always takes exception and insists that I’m saying it wrong - but that’s okay ;-) [Jason’s note: ] And it’s TACO not TAKO! [JMC]

There are so many ways to enjoy the many varieties in the mint family but some of the most popular recipes include the trusty Tabbouleh, or Raita, a mixture of yogurt, cucumber, and mint.  Or one of my favourites, especially in the summertime, has to be mint chocolate chip ice cream!  When I lived in the USA, Ben & Jerry’s Mint Chocolate Chance ice cream could not be beat!  

Sage

The name of this herb is a bit of a double edged sword for me - it always reminds me that one of my best friends was a dolphin named Sage and when she passed away it was one of my worst days ever.  But, she was amazing and I’m glad for the time I had with her.  But I still love the herb sage - so when I eat it I think of her and sometimes it’s happy thoughts and sometimes it’s memories of how hard that day was - gah, all the feels!

I actually first ate sage when I was a babysitter!  Yup, remember when people used to hire younger people to babysit their kids?  Is that still a thing?  I doubt it but I worked one summer for a couple babysitting their kids and it was a blast.  One night I stayed for supper and they made a simple pasta with sage, butter, and some parmesan cheese on top.  I immediately loved it!  And, for years after, it was an easy go-to meal for me to recreate.  They used ground sage which is always easy to buy and as I got older I would add in some white pepper to the mix.

But, were these adults on to something?  That dinner is actually a staple in….you guessed it - Italy, because they always do the greatest, yet simple, food combinations there.  There’s a staple in Italian cuisine, particularly in northern Italy - called “burro e salvia''; it is an easy sage and brown butter sauce often used on pasta, especially filled pasta such as ravioli, tortellini, and gnocchi. Plus, the simplicity of the sauce makes it a fast meal to prepare. [Jason’s note:] Oh my?! Have y’all tried the browned butter hack in the microwave yet?? Try it! So simple and easy and deeeeeelicious!!! [JMC]

Something I had never had was fried sage.  Now, I don’t remember where we were but Jason and I had gone somewhere and they had fried sage.  Jason, was it at Wagashi Tea House? I’m not sure but the fried sage we had somewhere was an explosion of flavour that I immediately loved so Jason found some fresh sage and came home and fried it.  I ate pretty much all of it! [Jason:] No, actually we got those tall, fresh sage bunches from Sarah at Ottewell Farmers’ Market in our first year of markets and I fried it in chicken skin grease that rendered from the thighs done under the broiler. The Wagashi meal was way later. [JMC] 

Sage is also part of the mint family and interestingly it was first prized not for its culinary uses but for its medicinal properties!  I don’t think most people nowadays would even associate sage with medicinal uses to fix all their ills instead focusing on how tasty it is in your holiday poultry stuffing recipe! Now that’s a common aroma memory for all of us who’ve celebrated around a turkey; the pique of poultry seasoning heavy on the sage when the stuffing comes out and then hits our plate! (Except for the one year that I ruined Christmas when I added feta and rice to the stuffing, I don’t think my brother will ever get over it!)

By the way, it must be mentioned that besides being a main ingredient in a seasonal stuffing or dressing (whatever you prefer to call it), you’ll find sage as an everyday superstar in recipes with all the kinds of mushrooms.  They pair so well together, I remember an ultimate decadent favourite - mushrooms done with sage in a cream sauce on top of chicken! Now to you readers: Does sage or another herb have bittersweet memories for you? Tell us your story below, we’d love to hear it - don’t be shy :)

Chives

Our last herb to write about, but not least, is chives!  Part of the same family as garlic, leeks, and onions - they are most interestingly part of the larger family Amaryllidaceae known as the amaryllis family. This is the family of flowering plants that includes over 1,600 species like daffodils, snowdrops, and amaryllis. 

Chives are fantastic in so many dishes but did you know they serve in your garden as a natural pest repellent?  Indeed, those pesky bugs like aphids are not fond of the strong smell of chives. Fun Fact For Felines: Apparently, lots of cats like chives, so watch out as they’ll mow them down in your herb patch! 

Something else that is pretty cool is that when the freeze drying process came around for foods, chives lend themselves really well to being freeze dried.  I prefer them fresh in salads, cheese and chive biscuits, or in a cheesy potato soup but having the freeze dried option for the winter months is a great option to have handy to sprinkle on potatoes, salads, soups, dips, or anything really. It really seems that when you mention chives to people they always have a gardening memory to tell and it brightens up the conversation just how chives brighten any meal (or a chip dip - don’t forget that!!)

And that ends our 4 part series on herbs.  Now, of course we came nowhere near to covering all the herbs you could possibly use but we wanted to get a good start on giving you some great information, some great sources, maybe some inspiration, and hopefully an opportunity to use some of the herbs in bigger and bolder ways and make some of your own delicious memories. 

Thanks so much for indulging us in our favourites and memories, please be sure to share with us you secret herb recipes or stories - maybe even let us know your favourite herb was you used during our 4 week herb-a-palooza!