Recipes: Salad Dressings from Around the World

Italian Salad Dressing
Extra virgin olive oil, Salt, Choice quality red vinegar, Crushed black peppercorns, 1 tsp chopped parsley, 1/8 tsp chopped garlic. Marcella Hazan advises, “The salad course is dressed at the table…First, put in the salt…give the salad one quick toss to distribute the salt…Then pour in the oil…there should be enough of it to produce a gloss on the surface of the vegetables… add the vinegar last as soon as you put in the vinegar, begin to toss. Toss gently to avoid bruising the greens. (Some recipes use mint, etc., as a change. “ Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking



African Peanut Salad Dressing1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup peanut oil
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
Salt & ground black pepper

Combine the ingredients, add salt and pepper to taste and mix well. (African Cooking [Time-Life]

Good Herbal Cook: Blends, Pastes, Powders

Herbes de Provence Dried herb mixUse for stews, soups: slow cooking
Basil, Savory, Fennel, Lavender, Thyme.

Bouquet Garni: Fresh or Dried, Tied. Use for stews and soups. Put in pot, remove before serving Select from: Thyme, Bay Leaves, Basil, Burnet, Chervil, Rosemary, Peppercorns, Savory, Tarragon

Fines Herbes: Minced herbs, fresh. Use at the last minuteParsley, Chervil, Tarragon &
Chives

Madras style Curry Powder¼ cup coriander seeds
2 tbsp brown mustard seeds
2 tbsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp fenugreek seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp red chile flakes
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cassia cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom seeds (pods)
Combine all ingredients and grind in a coffee grinder. Makes ¾ cup.

Tony Hill, Owner, World Spice Merchants and author,The Spice Lover’s Guide to Herbs and Spices notes, “This is relatively complex and is closest to a “reference” curry powder for Western tastes. In India, there are not premixed powders, the cooks make a curry for the particular dish on the fly.”
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Cook Book List What I have Relied on All These Years

African Society Garlic

Things taught to me by relatives and graduate students from other countries:
Indian curries and the use of cardamom(Madras),

French fries in Iran and yogurt sauces with garlic and mint:Iranian (Shiraz),

A fresh tomato with tuna, basil and homemade talian dressing--Italian (Sicily) I was an eager learner, the payoff was so good,

Historical Cookbooks (1960s-1970s, when I was young)

KimChee, Spiced beef, Vegetables with herbs, noodles, chili peppers, sauce( sesame oil, ginger, hot peppers )The Encyclopedia of Asian Cooking

Groundnut and Chicken Stew with herbs and spices, African Cooking Time-Life

Tomato Sauce with Homemade Pasta, Cassatas, Cold Braised Stuffed Veal with Tuna and Caper Sauce Italian Cooking Time Life

Latter Day Cooking
The Use of The Internet:
I would seek recipes by cuisine, look inside of new cookbooks with
Amazon.com's "look inside" feature and decide on what to add. Also, the collections of food magazines and recipe collections would be examined with mixed results.

I still like cookbooks, and they may get greasy; but they make for such good reading!

Sanam Lamborn, My Persian Kitchen, http://mypersiankitchen.com/mast-o-khiar-persian-yogurt-cucumber-dip/ and many other recipe sites/ Lamborn's collection, probably not well known yet, has the recipes I remember my Iranian friend cooking and teaching me how to prepare.

The Spice Lover’s Guide to Herbs and Spices Tony Hill. Probably the single best book on the use of spices and herbs around the world's cuisines. He owns a world-

The Soul of a New Cuisine A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of AfricaMarxcus Samuelsson. You like rubs and a quick way to make Berbere? This is the cookbook for you.

The South American Table: The Flavor and Soul of Authentic Home Cooking This takes you around the Continent and islands and you will come through with new flavor combinations.


There are so many more! The extension of interest in seasoning from herbs to herbs and spices is a result of these cookbooks and many others, as well as having delicious introductions to these cuisines.

Finally, a masterful book on cooking with herbs:
Jekka's Herb Cookbook by Jekka McVicar, features recipes fo reach herb outlined in the book. They are not contrived or forced, the way many collections are. I have tried one recipe recently that I repeat every chance I get to do so: Rosemary Roasted Potatoes (with Gray Sea Salt, the "gray" mine).

So a collection of cookbooks, winnowed about ten years ago, is steadily growing back to its original size. The cookbooks are better---that is probably my maturity in selection, as well as the general improvement in the quality of cookbooks today.


What cookbooks have stayed with you? What are the New Ones gaining space on your shelf?

Where to Buy Traditional Herbs for Your Landscape

Top row:Balloon Flower,All Heal, Chinese Angelica.Middle:Skullcap,Leopard Flower,Rehmannia. Bottom: Ginger, Dong Kai, Ginko.

Nurseries for Herb Plants

Crimson Sage: Medicinal Plants for the Herbal Garden and Herbalists Chinese, Ayurvedic and Native American traditional herb plants and seeds. http://http://www.crimson-sage.com/Richter’s: Wide range of herb seeds from all over the world. Includes the latest hybrid herb seeds and seeds from Ayurvedic, Chinese, Hispanic, and Native American traditions. www.richters.com

Prairie Moon. This nursery sells North American native plants. Many are Native American herbs. http://www.prairiemoon.com/

Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Seeds for over 50 herbs can be obtained. Read their policy on organic seeds. www.johnnyseeds.com

Where to View Herb Gardens in NJ and NYC areas

A view from the Bonnefort Garden outside the magical Plants section

Public Herb Gardens in New Jersey & New York City

Brooklyn Botanic Garden 900 Washington Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11225. The Herb Garden is designed to be a kitchen garden that reflects the diversity of Brooklyn. www.bbg.org.

Cloisters. The Bonnefort Medieval Herb Garden includes over 300 medicinal, culinary, dye, magical and aromatic herbs. http://www.metmuseum.org/visit/visit-the-cloisters/

Davis Johnson Park & Lissemore Rose Garden.137 Engle St., Tenafly, NJ.07670.201-569-7275. An herb garden is part of this former estate, as is a rose collection.

Dey Mansion, 199 Totowa Rd., Wayne, NJ, 07470. 973-696-1776. The site features a blacksmith shop, herb and vegetable gardens.
.
Duran-Hedden House and Garden, 523 Ridgewood Rd., Grasmere Park, Maplewood, NJ, 07040. 973-763-7712.
Maplewood Garden Club maintains an extensive herb garden on the 18th century farmhouse (undergoing restoration.)

Earth Center Circle of Thyme Herb Garden. Davidson Mill Pond Park, 42 Riva Ave., South Brunswick, NJ 08902. 732-398-5260. A 13 bed herb garden is maintained by the Rutgers Master
Gardeners of Middlesex County. Culinary, medicinal and aesthetic herbs are included.

Garretson Forge and Farm Restoration Inc.4-02 River Road, Fair Lawn, NJ 07410 The gardens have specimen and heirloom crops as well as an herb garden. This herb garden has over 80 kinds of culinary, dye and medicinal herbs. http://www.garretsonfarm.org/

The Hermitage 335 N. Franklin Turnpike, Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ 07423. The Gothic Revival house has a kitchen herb garden. http://www.thehermitage.org/   Click here for a downloadable, printable  flyer that describes the herbs in the garden.

Israel Crane House. 108 Orange Rd., Montclair, NJ. 973-744-1796. Features a 1796 Federal style home with a kitchen/herb garden.

Miller-Cory House Museum, 614 Mountain Ave., Westfield, NJ 07090. Vegetable and herb (culinary, dye, medicinal) gardens.

Osborn Cannonball House Museum. 1840 Front Street, Scotch Plains, NJ.07076. The 18th century house includes an authentic colonial herb garden.

New Jersey State Botanical Garden (Skylands) 1304 Sloatsburg Rd., Ringwood State Park, Morris Rd., Ringwood, NJ, 07456.973-962-7527. A number of Native American herbs, such as Wintergreen line the stream in a walk on the land.

Reeves-Reed Arboretum. 165 Hobart Ave., Summit, NJ.07901. 908-273-8787. The estate, which covers an expanse of 13 acres, features a patterned herb garden.

Well Sweep Herb Farm, 205 Mount Bethel Rd., Port Murray, NJ. 07865. 908-852-5390.There are several educational display gardens, ranging from the labeled medicinal garden to the formal knotted garden. This one of a kind nursery has over 2,000 herbs in its stock, a number of which are from the owner’s award-winning plant hybridization. The medicinal plants are labeled with kind of effect of the herb.

Wick House Herb Garden. Tempe Wicke Rd., Jockey Hollow, Morristown National Historic Park, Morristown, NJ.07960. 973-539-2085.The home site of Revolutionary encampment has an 18th century herb and vegetable garden.

Examples of Herbs Used in Traditional Medicines

Examples of Herbs Used in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Over 13,000 herbs are used in Traditional
Chinese Medicine (TCM)

Black False Helliabore (rhizome)

Boneset & Korean Mint (stalks & sheaves)

Chinese ephedra (Chinese: Mhuang:
Ask-for-Trouble)

Chinese Hawthorn (fruit)

Dangui: Ought-to-return.Angelica sinensis
(root)

Greco-
Arabic
Herbal Traditions
Discoveries
Investigations & Drug
Trials,
Pharmacy
Materia Medica

Culinary
Food Therapy

Herbs
Birthwort
Carob
Castor Bean Plant
Fennel
Saffron

Medicinal Herbs used by Native Americans

Swamp Milkweed (Ascielpias incarnata) Roots for kidneys.

Blue Giant Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) Chest pains from coughing

Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) Infusion used for rheumatism

Carolina Allspice (Calycanthus floridus) Bark a strong emetic.

Wild Ginger (Zingiber rhizoma ) Stomache aches.
Ethnobotanical study: Native American Medicinal Plants, Daniel E. Moerman

Traditional African Medicinal Herbs
Tropical areas: 6000 plants, 75% used medicinally

Chinese violet Asystasia gangetica Asthma .vegetable ( Nigeria)

Society garlic Tulbaghia violacea Anti cancer properties

Pygeum Prunus africana Prostate treatment. Bark made into tea. Used: fevers, malaria, wound dressing, arrow poison, stomach pain, purgative, kidney disease, appetite stimulant, gonorrhoea, and insanity

Doodo Securidaca Longepedunculata Herbal remedy (blanket) Global.

African cucumber Momordica balsamina Treat wounds. Tropical.



Herbs used in Hispanic Medical Tradition

Manzanita, urva ursi, bear berry, Arctostaphylos family. Edema; Urinary tract inflammation

Eucalyptus Myrtacea family. Bronchitis, cough, congestion

Passiflora Passionflower Treatment of Generalized Disorder, chemicals include coumerins. Anxiety; Gastrointestinal disorders of nervous origin;
Insomnia*; Pain

Mentha piperata Hierba buena, Peppermint. Bronchitis, cough; Dyspepsia**;

Turnera diffusa Damiana, pastorcita, hierba de la pastora Aphrodesiac Diabetes; Infertility
Ethnobotanical studies: University of Arizona School of Medicine

Oldest Use of Herbs

Iraq Neanderthal burial site, Shanidar IV, contains large amounts of pollen from 8 plant species,7 of which are used now as herbal remedies

Egypt 1000 BC: Records show they used Garlic, Opium, Castor Oil, Coriander Mint, Indigo. Perfumes.

India 700 medicinal plants recorded in the Sushruta Samhita , which made its way to Arabia.

China Shennong pen Ts’ao ching or Great Herbal (Han Dynasty and earlier, possibly 2700 BC, 365 medicinal plants and their uses

Many Herbs are included in These Four Families

Classification Of Herbs From The Farmers' Bulletin No. 1977
U.S. Department of Agriculture
"Botanists classify the savory herbs under several families. The principal families are the Labiatae, or mint family; the Umbelliferae, or parsley family; the Compositae, or aster family; and the Liliaceae, or lily family. All are classified according to their flower structure and other botanical characteristics. The great majority fall into the first two families named. It will be of interest to the gardener to learn to recognize the herbs of the different families. This is easily done by observing certain definite characteristics common to all plants of the family, as described below.

Mint Family (Labiatae)
Plants of the mint family have square stems with opposite aromatic leaves. The flowers are arranged in clusters at the base of the uppermost leaves or in terminal spikes. The individual flowers have two lips, the upper ones two-lobed and the lower three-lobed. Each flower produces, when mature, four small seedlike structures. The foliage is dotted with small glands containing the volatile or essential oil that gives to the plant its aroma and flavor. Some of the herbs belonging to this family are mints, basil, thyme, marjoram, savory, balm, sage, and rosemary.

Parsley Family (Umbelliferae)
The herbs of the parsley family have small flowers formed in umbels, like dill (see fig. 4), at the tops of the hollow stems. The leaves are alternate and finely divided, and the fruit forms in two parts, which separate when mature into two dry seedlike sections. These sections, commonly called seeds, have five prominent and sometimes four smaller ribs or ridges running lengthwise. The so-called seeds contain an aromatic oil that makes them valuable as flavoring agents. Usually the leaves and other parts of the plants contain the aromatic flavor also, but in smaller quantity than the fruits. Some aromatic plants belonging to this family are anise, caraway, celery, coriander, chervil, dill, fennel, lovage, and parsley.

Aster Family (Compositae)
Plants of the large aster family are recognized by their flowers, which are borne in composite heads like the daisy and sunflower. The small individual flowers form on a common receptacle surrounded by leaflike bracts or scales. The flower head is generally made up of a central disk composed of many small flowers with very small petals or short tubular corollas. There is often an outer ring of ray flowers with long strap-shaped corollas (sometimes miscalled "petals"). Only a few of the savory herbs, including tarragon, the various wormwoods, and costmary, belong to this family.

Lily Family (Liliaceae)
The lily family is composed chiefly of herbs with bulbous or enlarged root systems and annual stems. It is made up of 13 tribes, or subfamilies, each with its particular distinguishing characteristics. All plants of this family have regular symmetrical six-parted flowers. The fruit usually forms a three-celled berry or pod with few to many seeds. The leaves are generally slender, either flat or tubular, with veins running lengthwise. The savory herbs of this family belong to the allium, or onion, group. They are strong-scented and pungent, with long, slender strap-shaped or tubular leaves clasping the flower stalk, which rises from a bulb at its base. The flowers are borne in simple umbels, many of them forming bulblets. The most important herbs of this group with flavoring qualities are chive, leek, garlic, and onion."

Booklist:The Herbal Chronicles:Culinary, Medicinal and Cultural Uses

BOOKLIST

 The Herbal Chronicles:Culinary, Medicinal and Cultural Uses

A Handbook of Native American Herbs

American Medicinal Leaves and Herbs: Guide To Collecting Herbs and Using Medicinal
Herbs and Leaves

An Oral History of Folk Medicine

Chinese Natural Cures: Traditional Methods for Remedy and Prevention

Chinese Medicine Bible

Easterm Centern Guide to Medicinal Herbs

Folk Wisdom and Mother Wit: John Lee--An African American Herbal Healer
(Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies)

Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine: Traditional African Medicine

Greco-Arab and Islamic Herbal Medicine: Traditional System, Ethics, Safety,
Efficacy, and Regulatory Issues

Hatfield's Herbal: The Curious Stories of Britain's Wild Plants

Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure

Latino Folk Medicine

Native American Medicinal Herbs: An Ethnobotanical Dictionary

Secrets of Native American Herbal Remedies

The Herb Society of America's Essential Guide to Growing and Cooking With Herbs

Yoga Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine

The web site listing expands on many of the books.