Herbs - only fresh or leave it?

[Interrobang]

I have this ongoing discussion with friends and colleagues about using spices or herbs that aren?t fresh. A lot of them take the position that you should either use fresh herbs and spices or not use any at all because the Supermarket packed stuff would be worse than using none at all.

I don?t agree with that. While I totally agree that fresh herbs taste a lot better than packed old ones (who wouldn?t?), I?d still rather use dried "unfresh" Basil or Oregano than pass on that completley when no fresh herbs are at hand (wich is at my kitchen because I?m rather lazy when it comes to those things).

Thoughts on that?

 

[Vette Boss]

Without herbs to season your food, it's just bland. Dried is certainly better than no herbs at all.

 

[Adunaphel]

Depends on the herb, some are better fresh than dried, like parsley, masil and mint. These I use fresh or not at all. Lots of other can be used without problem as a dried herb, and some are supposed to even be better dried than fresh. The best example of this is Oregano. So just saying "Dried herbs suck, I only use fresh" is a very dumb an uninformed thing to do.

 

[Clockwerk]

^ I agree with Adunaphel, I keep fresh basil, rosemary, sage, thyme, and Greek oregano in my garden all others I use dried with I believe great results. I use dried oregano for almost everything that calls for oregano but when I make souvlaki I use fresh Greek oregano, I don't really use mint but if I did I'd grow my own.

 

[ahpadt]

In general you wan't them fresh, but if you have to use dried it's not the end of the world unless the dish is totally dependant on fresh.

 

[Twerp128]

I grow herbs just cause they're so freaking expensive. $2.50 every time you need a sprig of rosemary, screw that. Fresh Cilantro is awesome, by the way.

 

[Interrobang]

you lot got me confused ... my refusal to grow my own herbs or buy them fresh has earned me quite some verbal bashing from my friends in the past about how awful that tastes with no fresh herbs ... and now this unison concurrence with my own position on that topic ...

Maybe some people are just too far up their culinary ass to know what they are talking about

thx a lot.

 

[Karoug]

Depends on the herb, some are better fresh than dried.

What he said!

 

[Clockwerk]

Maybe some people are just too far up their culinary ass to know what they are talking about

When someone feels the need to nitpick the minutia of your cooking that ^ is always the case.

 

[Artemekiia]

I actually have recipes that call for dried herbs sometimes, but if I'm just making something up off the top of my head I generally try to have fresh stuff because it tastes better. I love me some freshly chopped basil with nearly anything though .

 

[Magnet]

What others have said. There is nothing wrong with dried oregano, or dried parsley when you are crumbing things. I do have fresh mint, parsley, dill, spring onions and chilli in my garden, and there is nothing better than some fresh basil, which I will re-plant in the spring.

 

[Koenig]

Dried herbs are typically more intense in flavor than fresh herbs, meaning you don't need to use as much.

 

[Adunaphel]

Dried herbs are typically more intense in flavor than fresh herbs, meaning you don't need to use as much.

That depends, some stuff, like parsley or basil loses nearly all it's flavour after drying.

 

[TBoneUs]

Voted same as everyone, but there are a few things that I will not do with dried.


On a related note found fresh mint in Cotonou today, Mojito's on the 4th tomorrow. Missed those things all summer, hot tropical weather without mojito's is just wrong.

 

[Shawn]

I don't care either way, but I like my herbs fresh if possible.

Of course, I've never cooked anything...