Sage wisdom

This time of year presents the onslaught of many favorite things: the fra­grance of cin­na­mon and nut­meg fill shops, chil­dren get their first break since sum­mer, hol­i­day lights begin to illu­mi­nate the streets in the evening and every­one pays atten­tion to my very favorite herb — sage. Sage is the quin­tes­sen­tial fla­vor of Thanks­giv­ing because many sta­ples of the Thanks­giv­ing table include sage. I would like to share with you a few of my favorite ways to use sage for Thanks­giv­ing, but also for the other 364 days. Also, sage is tremen­dously easy to grow in your sum­mer gar­den or even in a win­dowsill through the winter.

Sage is an inter­est­ing herb because it changes with the sea­son. In the spring and early sum­mer, sage has a much lighter more pep­pery fla­vor than its deep and earthy fla­vor in Novem­ber. Once I began incor­po­rat­ing sage into my every­day cook­ing, I real­ized it was the fla­vor miss­ing when I had tried to recre­ate so many of my favorite Ital­ian restau­rant dishes. In Ital­ian cook­ing, espe­cially in the north, sage is used just as com­monly as rose­mary. My go-to basic herb mix­ture for all dishes is sage, thyme and rose­mary. The three together have such a bal­anced fla­vor that pro­vides a per­fect base for any dish. Another favorite com­bi­na­tion with sage is laven­der. The two make a per­fect pair because they are actu­ally both mem­bers of the mint family.

Sage or Salvia offic­i­nalis comes from the Latin word ‘salveo’ which means to heal. Sage has long been cul­ti­vated and prized for its anti­sep­tic qual­i­ties (much like cousin laven­der). Romans used it for tooth­paste and to treat ill­ness. Sage was so prized in Roman soci­ety there was actu­ally an elab­o­rate pro­to­col in which it was har­vested. Also there is folk­lore that if a young woman puts 12 sage leaves under her pil­low on Christ­mas Eve, she will see the face of her future hus­band in her dreams. Per­haps some­one can try and let us know…

While you all know sage is the star fla­vor for your turkey and stuff­ing there are sev­eral other ways to enjoy this iconic herb for Thanks­giv­ing. Very finely minced sage, a few cloves of roasted gar­lic, and white ched­dar cheese are a deli­cious twist on clas­sic mashed pota­toes (I plan to still have a bowl of clas­sic for the purists). Gar­nish­ing the pota­toes with fried sage leaves and a crum­ble of bacon is the ulti­mate indul­gence. Adding sage and cran­ber­ries to an apple pie cre­ate a spec­tac­u­lar and orig­i­nal dessert. Sage and apple are a per­fectly suited match. Sage’s earth­i­ness and the tart­ness of apples com­ple­ment each other magically.

Per­haps what defines sage as my favorite herb is how easy it is to grow. In fact, it is the only herb I bother to grow over the win­ter indoors. After mul­ti­ple attempts result­ing in moldy rose­mary, brown basil and bone-dry thyme I have now come to the real­iza­tion my green thumb does not trans­late to a win­dowsill. For as ter­ri­bly as some of my other indoor herbs have gone, sage has always per­formed like an Olympian. No mold, no yel­low leaves, just per­fect and deli­cious sage. Sage likes full sun and for soil to dry between water­ing. Being a mem­ber of the noto­ri­ously pro­lific mint fam­ily, sage pro­duces an abun­dant amount of leaves for the home cook to enjoy. Yet another ben­e­fit to hav­ing your own sup­ply of sage around Thanks­giv­ing is you will not pay four dol­lars for a pack­age of two stems of sage. Not only is it expen­sive, but the gro­cery stores never have enough around Thanks­giv­ing. A gro­cery store quar­rel over sage does not a happy Thanks­giv­ing make. Pre­serve your strength for a match of tug-o-war Fri­day morn­ing at 4 a.m. over a black Fri­day deal.

I hope I have encour­aged you to take a sec­ond look at the often dis­missed sage. To use it cre­atively for your friends and fam­ily this Thanks­giv­ing and through the rest of the year. Iconic fla­vor and so easy to grow, it is a per­fect and reward­ing plant for the home gardener.

Stephen Jones is an OSU Exten­sion Mas­ter Gar­dener volunteer.

Posted by Master Gardener on Nov 11 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.