Garlic Mustard

Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is also blooming at this time of year. A very invasive weed it is on the noxious weed list in many states because it crowds out native species and has no natural predators (deer rarely eat it) to help keep it controlled. In the same family as Mustard, it is an edible weed with a mild garlic flavor to it. It spreads by seed so clipping it off and not allowing it to flower and then seed is a decent way to control it. Add it to your salads or your compost bin.

Mustard Fields

This is the time of year when the fields take on a golden hue and not from the leaves on the trees which are all very green. The yellow in the fields is from Mustard (Brassica or Sinapis). Mustard is in the same family as cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli and is one of the oldest condiments used. Mustard grows most everywhere from North Africa, Middle East, to Argentina, United Kingdom and the US. Canada is the leader of mustard growing production.

The yellow flowered plants spread readily by seed. All of the plant is edible, flowers, leaves and the seed. The condiment is made by mixing the seed with water, vinegar and spices. 700 million pounds of mustard is consumed world wide! The leaves from the mustard is what was used to produce mustard gas.

Dill - Herb of the Year

Dill, Anethum graveolens, has been designated as Herb of the Year by the International Herb Association. This choice is made based on a herbs diversity of uses - culinary, medicinal, fragrant, attractive to bees etc. Special thanks to David Brill for this creative Dill Peace sign photo. The green is dill weed, the brown is dill seed.

This brief information on dill was taken from Bertha Reppert's book Herbs with Confidence. One of our favorite books because of its practical information, friendly style with which it is written and herbs listed in alphabetical design. If you are looking for a beginner books on herbs this is the one.

An annual reaching 3-4 feet, one of the best herbs grown by seeds, dill seeds from your pantry shelf can be used as long as they are less than 3 years old. Sprinkle the seeds sparsely in a shallow area of a well prepared bed. In about two months you will have a fresh crop of seeds. Collect the seed heads to use with pickles, dry some and allow some to self-sow. If dill is happy in your garden it will re seed.

Used for protection against witchcraft, a soothing tea for colicky babies, flavor for favorite pickles- what more could one ask? Dill is all of this and more, so grow lots of dill in your garden.

The name dill comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word "dilla" which means "to dull" because it soothing to infants for teething and digestion.

Dill weed enhances egg dishes, soups, veggies, most an tiresome recipe can be sparked by this remarkable herb. Dill has so many culinary uses it is hard to know where to begin. Dill vinegar to flavor salads, sauces, green beans and dill butter gives the sweetly pungent flavor of dill to almost any dish. Simply mince 3 T dill weed into a pound of butter, blend and mellow for several days. Try this on your lunch sandwich and you will be delighted by the piquant flavor. Add it to cubed new potatoes for dilled potatoes. Enjoy!

Lady's Mantle

This charming little plant has a ton of folk lore associated with it. It is easy to grow and is a plant that enjoys having some shade. It produces very pretty little chartreuse colored flowers in July and August. Named Our Lady's Mantle because the scalloped leaves resembled a cloak that would have been worn by the Virgin Mary. Its Latin name, Alchemilla vulgaris, represents its early history where Alchemists, the early chemists and magicians, used the dew collected from the leaves to magically turn base metals into gold. It is also said that these little pools of water are where the fairies stop to bathe and play. And finally, if you collect the dew of Ladies Mantle in your fine china tea cup and slowly sip, it is said to keep you youngly!

Spoutwood May Day Fairie Festival

The Green Men March. Offering blessings and bounty for the coming growing season.

Some of the other folk who wandered past our booth and enjoyed the fragrant herbs.
Leader of the River Tribe - He trades photos for hugs....
More views of the fairy festival. These wings are made by Custom Fairy Wings.
Clever wire wings. Another great May Day weekend. at the Spoutwood May Day Fairie Festival, sunshine all weekend until about 8 p.m. on Sunday!

May Day Fairy Festival

We enjoy vending at the May Day Fairy Festival every year. Our herb plant display is behind this pair of moss men. This isn't the best photo of the moss men as the one on the right isn't smiling....

The King and Queen of the May: Chris and Patti VanBrederode. Princess Mackenzie was sleeping at the moment.

The Maypole. Our booth is located near the Maypole Court and the Sunshine Stage.

Rob Wood pictured here with a fairy friend is the owner of Spoutwood Farm Center. He and his wife Lucy began the Fairy Festival 19 years ago. In one of the earliest years, Bertha & Byron Reppert (or, mom & dad as we know them!) were King and Queen of the May, alas, no pictures of that adventure. Tomorrow we will share more Fairy Fest Photos.

Happy May Day!

May Day celebrations are held all around the world. One enchanting little tradition involves secretly putting a pretty bouquet of fresh spring flowers on your neighbor's doorknob. If they discover you doing this, they must give you a kiss! What a sweet little tradition! This lovely little nosegay includes smiling pansies, sweet lily-of-the-valley, a petite spring tulip, and lovage greens. This delicate little bouquet is in an embroidered hankie that has been folded and neatly pressed into a cone. A satin ribbon, with two bows is attached to the hankie in order to hang it on the door.

Elderberry Cordial

Susanna has been in a cordial making mood lately. She spoke on this topic at the PA Herb Festival and will do so again at the Baltimore Herb Festival the last Saturday in May. We also have a fun Liqueur making class scheduled here at The Rosemary House in August which features lots and lots of taste tasting!

Found a bag of frozen Elder Berries from last fall's harvest. Saved a bag of berries in case I didn't make enough elder berry syrup to last the winter. To make elder berry cordial: simmer 5 C elder berries in 2 C water and 3 C sugar. This makes a nice elder berry sugar syrup which is excellent for keeping away colds during the winter. Angelica also likes this syrup to take her herbal medicine in for her childhood asthma. It's part of the Mary Poppins's school of medicine....A teaspoon of sugar....

I also gently press out the berries using this old lemon juicer I picked up at a yard sale. I say gently press because you want only the sweet. It is also best if you simmer only berries and no stems (the stems are bitter).

Then you add that syrup to 27 oz of alcohol. Your favorite is fine. This time I used rum. YUM!

As with all liqueurs they improve with age -- Letting them sit 3-4 months is what we find to be the hardest part of the whole process. It will maintain this lovely deep purple color.

Once it has aged: use as a dressing on a salad, or mix with a lemon/lime soda as a refreshing beverage, or drizzle over ice cream. It would also be good in a trifle.

Violet Cordial

I recently read a short article about Creme Yvette, a 100 year old Violet liqueur that ceased production in the 1960's. I read the article a week or two ago when the lawns were brimming with violets. So I was inspired to make my own Violet Cordial. I began with this jar of violets and I poured vodka over the violets. I let them soak for two weeks in the vodka but was very disappointed in the result. So I went back to the violet lawn and gathered twice this amount of the remaining violets. Those I simmered in 1 C water and 1/2c sugar. This yielded a very floral tasting sugar water. But surprisingly it did not have a pretty purple color that I expected. Pleased with the results of the Violet sugar syrup. I combined the violet vodka and the violet sugar syrup together and have a floral liqueur, which I bottled in a pretty blue jar to compensate for the lack of color. (I am not too disappointed in the lack of color as I know the colors achieved from flowers often fade quickly anyway.) It has been aging for all of two days and the flavors are blending and mellowing together. I am sure next month it will be perfect. Never having tried Creme Yvette I don't know if I am close to the original recipe or not. I think I am probably off the mark a bit as I have read it has some Vanilla, berries and other spices in it also.

Violet Fizz

2 oz Violet Liqueur

1/2 oz lemon juice

Add to Club Soda

Optional: 1 t sugar

Afternoon Tea in London

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to London with a very special group of women. The first stop for Afternoon Tea was at the Tea Palace in Notting Hill. At the time, it was considered the newest, chic, star studded spot to take tea. The tea tray was beautiful, the the tea selection impressive. The purple T on the plates made a subtle statement.
We also enjoyed a Champagne Tea at The Ritz. Elegance. Sheer elegance. Gold, glamour, glitz. The Ritz. Even the bathroom warranted photographs. Here, the tea tray, note the champagne glass, and the silver milk pitcher and tea strainer too!
Check out this gorgeous selection of desserts on the top tier. Fabulous!

Afternoon Tea at the Lanesborough Hotel, yummy. Excellent variety of sandwiches on the bottom tier, tiny tea breads in the middle, desserts on the top.Once we devoured all of that, a separate plate of scones and toasted tea cakes was brought out to the table with clotted cream, lemon curd and strawberry jam. Delicate piano music accompanied this delightful tea.

Beautiful artistry. Wonderful memories.

The Tea Trolley

This past Monday, the Mid-Atlantic Tea Business Association held their annual seminar at The Tea Trolley in Delta, PA. We had several informative seminars, including the tea and cheese pairing shared yesterday. Since this is a day long gathering, afternoon tea typically is included.
Here, Rachel, the owner is presenting the lovely tea tray to our table. Rachel recently acquired a beautiful mansion, spent nine months renovating, and has happily opened her tea room. We enjoyed a delightful typical afternoon tea. A thick potato chowder was served first followed by this yummy tea tray full of delightful flavors.

Our table enjoyed a variety of tea, selected from an extensive menu. Should you happen to be in Delta (near the PA/MD border), do try and schedule a visit to this beautiful tea room.

Tea and Cheese Pairing

Recently, I had the chance to enjoy a Tea and Cheese Pairing conducted by Mim Enck of the East Indies Tea Company. This beautiful arrangement of five tea tasting cups and five spoons with assorted cheeses silently announced the taste treat that was to follow.

The first tea, a Lung Ching Dragonwell from China with a sweet note was paired with a mellow and soft Triple Creme cheese. Both the tea and cheese were delicate and complemented each other well. Genmaicha from Japan, a brown rice tea with a toasted and nutty flavor was paired with a homemade feta. This was a nice combination of flavors. Mim noted that Genmaicha is a very versatile tea, and she will often use it as a base for making miso soup, with soba noodles and tofu.

Next was a good everyday tea from Africa, Kenya Milima with a delightful sweetness. It was paired with Irish Cheddar, also a light sweet cheese, differing from traditional American cheddar. When combined, the tea and the cheese produced a subtle apricot note. Nutcracker Sweet, a spicy hearty flavored black tea, was enjoyed with a NY State Smoked Gouda, a soft cheese, with hints of smoke. When the tea and cheese were paired, the smokiness of the cheese became enhanced. And finally, an Assam Halmari was enjoyed with a Date & Orange Stilton. The Assam has a sweetness to it which blended well with the almost fruitcake flavor of the Stilton. Absolutely fun and enjoyable!