A dinner of herbs

Jun 20 2008 by Jane Hall, The Journal

Jane Hall visits a very special garden that is as pleasing to the eye and healing spirit as the rumbling stomach, and finds out how we can all be more creative with herbs courtesy of cookery writer and trained chef Phillippa Lee.

IT’S 9am and the late spring sunshine is finally breaking through the clouds that brought overnight rain.

As the warm rays hit the water droplets, as tiny as diamonds coating everything, a sweet, rich fragrance fills the air. A bit of olfactory detective work reveals the smell to be coming from a soft, springy vibrant green sward. Stepping on to it intensifies the intoxicating aroma. But for all its pungent perfume, the smell is oddly calming.

It’s a camomile lawn, an aromatic plant renowned for its soothing effect.

These days, camomile (or chamomile as some people prefer to spell it) is best known as a smooth, honey sweet herbal tea than a lawn covering. Yet no self-respecting 16th century English garden would have been without its camomile lawn to walk or sit upon. Elizabethan gardener Thomas Hyll wrote in 1577 of using camomile for “benches to sytte on”, while the poet Spencer in 1574 spoke of “Breathful Camomile” as he recounted treading on the bouncy and pleasantly course foliage.

The camomile lawn is just one of 600 species of herbs at the Dilston Physic Garden, a tranquil site above the romantically named Devil’s Water in the Tyne Valley near Corbridge, Northumberland. The inspired creation of Professor Elaine Perry, a neuroscientist at Newcastle University who directs research into plant medicines, she has over the last decade put her scientific training to inspired use in devising this unique sensory garden complete with a full-sized Japanese Shinto Tori Gate at the entrance where visitors can metaphorically pass from the material into the spiritual world.

Much more than raised beds and lavender, here you can explore all aspects of the senses – sight, smell, touch, sound and taste. It is taste that will be top of the agenda on July 31, however, when trained chef, cookery writer and artist Phillippa Lee holds a creative cooking with herbs day.

A hands-on introduction to herb cookery, participants can expect more than a few surprises. For just as camomile is nowadays thought of as a beverage rather than an enticing lawn covering, so many plants have become better known as attractive garden features, their culinary uses lost in the mists of time.

Mint, sage, basil and marjoram are well known ingredients. But how many people would think of using lavender to pep up a recipe. Yet this popular scented garden shrub, with its sweet aromatic taste, will give a lift to anything it is added to from roast lamb to scones.

Rose petals are perfect in jam, sprinkled over salads and rice and even used as decoration on cakes. Lime leaves give a tangy, citrus perfume to soups, salads and stir-fries, while the bright yellow and gold orange flowers of calendula, more commonly known as pot marigold, can be used as a substitute to saffron and added to sauces, tarts, preserves, pickles, fritters and soft cheeses.

There is little Phillippa doesn’t know about getting the most out of what Nature provides. Indeed, her garden near Kendal in the South Lakes may currently be a riot of June colour, but the flowers, herbs and shrubs the 47-year-old has painstakingly planted provide more than a feast for the eyes.

Each has a culinary use – often long forgotten – and will end up in everything from sauces to salsas, salads, marinades and dressings.

Phillippa, who runs cookery courses alongside working as a chef in the Lancrigg Hotel’s vegetarian restaurant in Grasmere, Cumbria, is infectious in her enthusiasm for herbs. “Herbs are one of the oldest ingredients known to man, yet we use so few of them now,” she says.

The dictionary definition of a herb is any plant whose leaves, seeds or flowers can be used for flavouring, food, medicine, or perfume.

Hence why Dilston Physic Garden boasts 600 herbs – 50 or more of which are culinary -– making it the largest place of its kind in the North East.

Phillippa blames the supermarkets for killing off people’s knowledge of herbs. “We have got out of the habit, and I believe the supermarkets are responsible. When I was young, especially in those years just after the war, there was more of a commitment to growing your own food. Then the big supermarkets came along and suddenly people didn’t have to bother and everything was there for them, pre-packaged and ready to be used.

“But now people have no idea where their food comes from and we have lost the urge and the knowledge to go out to the garden and grow our own.

“Most people now don’t know enough to be able to make a judgement on what herbs, beyond the basics, they can use.

“For example, how many people have lemon balm in their garden, but they probably don’t know how to use it for cooking. But it tastes just like lemon and can be used anywhere where you need lemon in a recipe from meat and fish to stuffings and salads.”

Phillippa loves to eat herbs raw and makes infused oils for a taste of summer in winter.

Currently in-season are the likes of lemon balm, mint, lovage, sorrel, thyme, rosemary and chives. “With lovage you have to be subtle and discreet as it is so strong, so you just use a tiny bit in stews or a soup, but not salad,” Phillippa explains. “Rosemary is great for barbecues; take the leaves off and cook the stems with meat or vegetables.

“Coriander, mint and basil are good for pesto. Sometimes I make my own tomato sauce with anchovies and put in basil or oregano at the last minute.

“One of my favourite dishes is courgette fritters. They are really simple to do dusted with flour and polenta and eaten with a yoghurt and mint dip. You don’t need anything else.

“Or how about some goats’ cheese and olive oil with fresh thyme chopped on top served on a plate with some freshly baked bread.”

Phillippa’s conversation is peppered with droolsome recipes. “I’m into being creative,” she declares. “What goes with what and being inspired by going to the local market and seeing what’s in the garden or cupboard and having a play around. It’s something I encourage others to do; take a couple of store cupboard ingredients and see what happens when you put them together.

“I get ideas from different cultures as well. I love Middle Eastern food. I lived in Beirut for a while between the troubles – I was in love with a Palestinian at the time – and I was astounded by the colour and vibrancy of the food that was so different to what we have here in the UK.

“The idea of using herbs in abundance comes from warmer countries. On the whole, salads are made almost entirely of big, fresh herbs in these countries.”

They don’t just taste good, they are cleansing and purifying. Katrina Padmore, 43, the project manager at Dilston, explains that many herbs have important medicinal and culinary properties – a relationship our ancestors were only too well aware of but we have forgotten.

Yet if we incorporated more of these herbs into our daily diet, how much better might our health be? “I think people’s awareness of herbs is quite narrow in terms of culinary and medicinal uses. A lot of herbs, for instance, aid digestion while many others have anti-cancer properties, and we should be using more of them.

“Sage – we have over 20 species of that alone here at Dilston – and lemon balm have both been shown in clinical trials to improve memory and cognitive problems in general, and Professor Perry has researched both in relation to autism and Alzheimer’s.

“Medical herbalism is still the most commonly used medicine in the world, but we have lost touch with it here in the West and are only now trying to retrieve that lost knowledge.

“When I first started working here at Dilston that was what first hit me; it’s all here, everything we need is growing around us.

“Everything here is allowed to grow through its full life cycle, even in the culinary area, which is unusual as you don’t usually allow that to happen.”

A registered charity, Dilston Physic Garden is unique in Britain – if not the world – for its cross discipline approach to include detailed knowledge of folk/magical associations, traditional medical herbalist usage and the latest scientific, clinical evidence in visitor information.

Phillippa will be taking full advantage of this when she runs her hands-on introduction to herb cookery. But she is keen to emphasise that one of the joys of herbs is that they don’t need an environment like Dilston to thrive and can, for the most part, be grown anywhere, from small backyards to windowsill pots.

And what could be nicer than a bunch of large, well tended pots which, in summer, will provide everything the cook needs?