Incorporating fresh herbs into your
kitchen can open up your home
cooking to abundantly simple, yet
delicious flavors. Not only are they
full of flavor, herbs are packed
with health-promoting
vitamins, antioxidants,
and compounds that
can ease digestive issues,
improve blood
pressure, and beef
up the immune
system. Health
benefits aside,
creating flavorful
food makes eating
a more pleasurable
experience and can
bring your nutritional
goals within reach. Not
sure where to start? We’ve
teamed up to bring you five tips to
get you started.
Spice up your salads
We all know dressings add flavor and healthy fats to salads, but have you tried adding
fresh herbs straight into your greens? It’s a great way to add a burst of flavor in every
bite. Try tossing in whole or thinly sliced leaves of mint, basil or chives to your green
salad and dress it like you normally would.
Know when to add them
Herbs can be classified as
either tender or woody, a
distinction that will help you
know when to add them
in cooking. Tender herbs
have soft stems and delicate
leaves, whereas woody herbs
have stiff stems and tougher
leaves. The delicate flavors
of tender herbs are easily
lost in cooking and are best
added as a garnish or at the
very end of cooking (during
the last five minutes or less).
The more pungent flavors of
woody herbs are often too
intense to serve raw and can
endure longer cooking times
at higher temperatures.
Pro Tip: The soft stems of tender herbs are full of flavor too and all parts can be used. If
you’re using woody herbs, you’ll need to de-stem the leaves first. Simply pinch the tip of the
sprig and run your fingers down the stem, top to bottom, and discard the stem.
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