Growing a Themed Kitchen Herb Garden

I really love learning to cook dishes from other countries, especially a couple of my favorite Mexican dishes. Do you enjoy cooking mouth-watering international dishes? You can try your hand at cultivating a mouth-watering themed kitchen herb garden.

You can cultivate the major herb plants in your own garden and have the freshest ingredients to add to your recipes, or experiment on your own.

You do not have to have a special place for your themed kitchen herb garden. You can grow them in containers or in your usual garden bed.

Look no further than these suggestions for your own themed kitchen herb garden:

• Asian: There are so many different cultures and folks in Asia, such as Thai, Chinese, Indian and Vietnamese, so how could the food be dull? Some awesome herbs to cultivate in your Asian-themed garden are lemongrass, cayenne pepper, cardamom and anise. Try the licorice flavor of anise in your next Indian meal, or use its warm sweetness in your baked goods. You can also try it in tea and in baking a savory-sweet cookie. Although it was once pretty popular in American cuisine, it kind of died out, but in the last few years has made a resurgence in the kitchen.

• Mexican: Would you like to have a bit of a Mexican herb fiesta? I like to eat my favorite Mexican meals, such as burritos, fajitas or quesadillas at least once a week. The best Mexican recipes always include these: Cayenne pepper, Cilantro and Garlic.

• Italian: Just about everybody I know has their favorite Italian pasta dish. My favorite is baked ziti with grilled herbed chicken. The best I ever had was my mom’s which included all these fantastic herb plants: basil, fennel, parsley, garlic, marjoram, oregano, rosemary and thyme. The oniony flavor of garlic makes it a perfect addition to most Italian dinners. Put a little garlic on your roasted chicken and add it to your soups and stews. You can even toss some chopped garlic in your mashed potatoes. Do not overcook your garlic because it loses its flavor the longer it cooks.

• Middle East: Dishes from the Middle East and north Africa are only growing in popularity these days. There is such variety in the array of herbs used in Middle Eastern cuisine. Add chick peas, couscous and figs to your pita and herbed yogurt sauce for something extra special. These herb plants are often to be found on the ingredient lists for Middle Eastern dishes: cardamom, garlic, parsley, rosemary and saffron.

• German: You don’t have to wait for October to cook up an Octoberfest dish at home if you have the right herb plants used in German cooking. These are a couple of my favorite and most often used in authentic German dinners: chives, dill, horseradish, sage and thyme. As a relative of mustard, horseradish is a condiment herb that you can use for extra taste. It can also open up your sinuses! Horseradish is a wonderful addition to your dinners. Try it in mayonnaise and potato salad. Horseradish will also go well in cream cheese spreads and meat loaf.

Unless you use too much of your herb in cooking, your herb will keep growing and provide you with ingredients for other dinners. Once you cut off some lemongrass for your pad Thai, it will grow back. Oftentimes it can grow back bigger and fuller than it was before.

Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.

Here is more information on Fresh Herb Gardening. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.