Seed catalogs help bring flavors of the East to the West

Is it spring yet? As I write it is the cold­est it has been in the past two years and there is a pathetic snow with flakes that just look bored with their job.

This is the kind of win­ter for which I have lit­tle admi­ra­tion. Like most, I feel if it is going to be win­ter I would pre­fer more pic­turesque vis­tas. Of course spring is a ways off and there is still plenty of time for gen­er­ous snow­fall and vivid win­ter skies.

This time of year also rep­re­sents another kind of long­ing that all gar­den­ers (or those who tol­er­ate us) know: seed cat­a­logs. While much of retail has done away with cat­a­logs, they are still very much alive in the gar­den­ing world. If the first hard frost in Octo­ber or Novem­ber is the end of the sea­son, the first seed cat­a­log in the Jan­u­ary mail is the begin­ning. The pos­si­bil­i­ties seem end­less, there are thou­sands of choices all oh-so-reasonably priced at around $2 an enve­lope. It seems every page of every cat­a­log is dog-eared for some­thing I think I might grow. Just like going to the gro­cery store, hav­ing a list before you open the cat­a­log helps con­trol the chaos.

This year on my list are Asian herbs. I should have been more spe­cific. As you can imag­ine with such a blan­ket term, I had a lot to choose from.

This win­ter I have become very inter­ested in Asian cook­ing. Until recently I could not have really defined the true dif­fer­ences between Thai, Chi­nese, Japan­ese, and Viet­namese cui­sine. And while I have only hit the tip of the ice­berg, I am excited to expand my cook­ing by grow­ing herbs pop­u­lar in dif­fer­ent Asian cul­tures. While the list could still grow, the Asian herbs I will def­i­nitely be grow­ing this year are:

• Anise Basil, Thai Basil, Lemon Basil (Oci­mum basilicum): Although all under the same name, these three vari­eties of basil actu­ally have dis­tinct char­ac­ter­is­tics that define them apart from one another. Often these three names are used inter­change­ably (even by some seed com­pa­nies). Unsur­pris­ingly, anise basil has a strong anise fla­vor. All basil car­ries an anise fla­vor, but the fla­vor of anise basil even stands up to very high heat, which tra­di­tional Gen­ovese basil does not. Anise basil is a very fast grow­ing and attrac­tive herb with leaves lightly blushed with pur­ple. Which is where it can become eas­ily con­fused with Thai basil; because they look almost iden­ti­cal. Thai basil is prone to have darker pur­ple on the stems and leaves, and have more of a pep­pery taste and aroma than the strong licorice fla­vor of anise basil. Thai basil also main­tains its qual­i­ties beau­ti­fully at very high heat where other herbal fla­vors often are lost or become bit­ter. Gen­er­ally lemon basil has pur­ple stems and green leaves with a promi­nent aroma of lemon. I would imag­ine these three were orig­i­nally the same and over time devel­oped unique fla­vors in dif­fer­ent regions, much like wine grapes. Also, these three spread much more like mint so it is advis­able to plant in con­tain­ers. Like other basil, these grow best in full sun with rich soil. Another qual­ity these vari­eties share with mint is how they thrive in moist soil.

• East-Indian Lemon Grass (Cym­bo­pogon flex­u­o­sus): Although there are sev­eral vari­eties, this is the most suited for cook­ing. Lemon grass is widely used in many Asian and Indian cuisines, loved for its light and fresh lemon fla­vor it fla­vors rice beau­ti­fully and will not over­whelm del­i­cate fish. Lemon grass is also an excel­lent addi­tion to the gar­den because the smell repels many insects while attract­ing hon­ey­bees. Lemon grass grows best in full sun and is very easy to care for. If pur­chas­ing seedlings at the nurs­ery in the spring, be sure you have lemon grass and not cit­ronella grass. They are closely related, but cit­ronella grass is grown for its’ extract which repels insects, and is not suited for cooking.

• Shiso (Per­illa frutescens): Shiso is a very ver­sa­tile herb used through­out Asian cui­sine but is per­haps most com­monly used in Japan­ese fare. Shiso can be used raw in sal­ads, sauteed, or stir-fried. It is com­pa­ra­ble to spinach with a pep­pery bite to it. Shiso can be a dark pur­ple or green and while the fla­vor is much the same, often green shiso is used raw, and pur­ple or red shiso is cooked. Pur­ple shiso can be used as a nat­ural red food col­or­ing, many pick­led or pre­served dishes include shiso just for the exquis­ite ruby color it lends when it reacts with vine­gar. Shiso can be grown in par­tial shade to full sun and prefers moist, rich soil.

While it’s not spring yet, it is get­ting closer every day. Plan­ning for your sum­mer gar­den is an excel­lent way to pass the time wait­ing. Grow­ing your own herbs and veg­eta­bles is a great way to broaden the hori­zons of your cook­ing while indulging your hobby as a gar­dener. Just like the gro­cery store, try and stick to the list!

Stephen Jones is an OSU Exten­sion Mas­ter Gar­dener volunteer.

Posted by Master Gardener on Feb 8 2013. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.