Sunday, August 4, 2013

Herbs: A Place to Begin... Herbal Glaze

Being part of our county's Master Gardener Speakers Guild is a lot of fun. My program is titled "Herbs: A Place to Begin". It is for anyone who might be curious about growing herbs or is just beginning to use them. I give simple advice for ways to incorporate tasty herbs into your every day life. After such a sweet reception to my presentation, I will be adding regular posts about herbs.
 
The question this week:  What can you make with Herbal Tea?
 
You've been drinking your Herbal Tea hot and cold, with and without honey or sugar or even salt.  Now what can you do with it? 

A simple glaze! 

You probably already have a recipe for it somewhere.  Powdered sugar, milk, butter, and some kind of flavoring, right?  You can take your favorite glaze recipe and swap the milk and even the flavoring for an Herbal Tea.  Here's my recipe.
 
Glaze:
 
1 1/2 cups of powdered or confectioners sugar
 2 - 3 teaspoons of Herbal Tea
1 teaspoon butter
 
Melt the butter.  Add the sugar and herbal tea until it is a consistency you like.  For me humidity seems to play a big role in how much or how little liquid gets added. 
 
This is a photo from my Lemon Balm Cake and Glaze Recipe.  Mmmm...  I love lemon balm!  It is truly my favorite herb.
 
 
 
 
Your next question might be which glazes go well with what stuff? 
 
I love a basil glaze on top of berry cobblers or pies.  Basil and berries are a winning combination!
 
Lemon Balm has a mild lemon taste.  I like it with anything fruity, citrus or vanilla.  Consider drizzling lemon balm glaze over vanilla petit fours.  Then decorate  each one with a lemon balm leaf.  They are so pretty and so tasty!  If you are not growing lemon balm, you have got to try it! 
 
Spearmint, Peppermint or Doublemint are so yummy with anything chocolate or coffee flavored.  Make your favorite brownies or chocolate cake then add a little mint glaze on top. 

One of my friends from the Herb Society makes plain shortbread cookies and zig-zags just a touch of lavender glaze across the top.  They are very elegant!
 
Check out my Recipes Page and  Gardening Page for more information.  Please come back each week for other simple ideas and ways to add herbs into your everyday life!  I hope this post gives you... 

A Place to Begin!

;-)  -Marci

8 comments:

  1. Basil and berries does sound like a winning combination!!

    I'm visiting today from Super Sunday Sync. :)

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  2. When I had my own space for a garden, I specialised in herbs, some veggies and lots of soft fruit. Do miss the products, but not the hard work involved in their production. Lovely recipes: wish I'd known some of them when I was actually involved. Best of luck!

    Isobel: www.ColdhamCuddliescalling.blogspot.com

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  3. Interesting post - I never would've though to use herbal tea as a sub in this. I love lemon balm too, so I will definitely have to try this.
    Followed you from Mostly Homemade Monday.
    Love for you to come by Wildcrafting Wednesday and share.
    http://www.herbanmomma.com/2013/08/wildcrafting-wednesday-8-21-13/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Interesting post - I never would've though to use herbal tea as a sub in this. I love lemon balm too, so I will definitely have to try this.
    Followed you from Mostly Homemade Monday.
    Love for you to come by Wildcrafting Wednesday and share.
    http://www.herbanmomma.com/2013/08/wildcrafting-wednesday-8-21-13/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cool idea! Thanks for sharing, Marci. :)

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  6. I like the idea of being able to use mint from my garden.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hello! I am stopping by via katherine's corner Thursday blog hop! I have enjoyed reading your blog and am now following you! Just thought I'd let you know! :)

    Sarah Ortiz

    www.theortizs.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

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