From My Garden to My Kitchen

There is something incredibly satisfying about walking into your own garden, snipping a few fresh herbs and knowing that they are going to become part of tonight's dinner.

You don't need a huge vegetable garden or rows and rows of plants either. Sometimes a few pots of herbs are enough to completely change the way you cook.

I have rosemary, thyme and sage growing in my garden, and instead of simply picking a sprig whenever I need one, I've started thinking about all the different ways I can actually use and preserve what I'm growing.

And there are so many possibilities.

Don't Let Those Herbs Go to Waste

Fresh herbs have a habit of growing beautifully... and then suddenly you have more than you know what to do with.

That's when it's time to get creative.

Rosemary, thyme and sage are particularly useful because they work beautifully with everyday foods like chicken, potatoes, vegetables, lamb and homemade bread.

You can use them fresh, dry them for later, freeze them, infuse them into other ingredients or turn them into something completely new for your pantry.

One of My New Favourites: Herb Salt

One of the simplest things I've discovered is making flavoured salt using fresh herbs from the garden.

I love this idea because you're taking something you've grown yourself and turning it into a pantry staple that you can reach for whenever you're cooking.

My first combination is rosemary, thyme and sage.

Just imagine opening a little jar and getting that wonderful herby smell every time you cook.

I've created the full Garden Herb Salt recipe separately in the Recipes section, including how I dry mine using the air fryer.

There Is So Much More We Can Make

Once you start looking at your herb garden differently, the possibilities really open up.

Rosemary can become rosemary oil, herb butter or a beautiful seasoning for roast potatoes.

Thyme is wonderful with chicken, vegetables, soups and sauces.

Sage pairs beautifully with butter and is particularly good with chicken, pork and roasted vegetables.

You could also experiment with homemade herb blends, infused vinegars, dried herb mixes and flavoured butters.

And that's before we even start adding things like garlic, chilli and lemons.

A Little Homemade Gift from the Garden

This is another reason I'm loving the idea of preserving garden herbs.

They can become gifts.

A small glass jar of homemade herb salt with a handwritten label, some twine and a little dried rosemary tucked underneath suddenly becomes something really special.

Make three different flavours and you have a gorgeous little kitchen gift set.

It doesn't have to be expensive or complicated.

Sometimes the loveliest gifts are simply things we've made ourselves.

Start With What You Already Have

You don't need to go out and buy a collection of ingredients to start making things at home.

Have a look around.

What's growing in your garden?

What's sitting in your pantry?

What could you make instead of buying?

That's something I want to explore much more here, making beautiful and useful things from what we already have around us.

Today, mine started with three simple herbs growing in my garden:

Rosemary. Thyme. Sage.

And they're about to become something delicious.

You can find my Garden Herb Salt recipe in the Recipes section.

From My Garden to My Kitchen