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Post by breezygardener on Mar 9, 2015 11:51:19 GMT -5
Posted by OregonRed: "regarding chamomile. I grew it last year, because I think it's pretty, yet I also like the tea. so I waited for the flowers to get mature-ish, harvested, let dry, and the yellow stuff fell off :~/ well so I made some tea anyway with what I had, and it was aweful - very strong and stinky. what gives??"
Do you know what variety you grew? Because there are a number of varieties of Chamomile, & some have been described as being "stinky".
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Post by OregonRed on Mar 9, 2015 12:01:20 GMT -5
nope, just purchased a packet at the garden store - oh well.
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Post by desertwoman on Mar 9, 2015 13:33:22 GMT -5
Was it tallish or low growing?
look for "German chamomile" maticaria chamomile (it grows wild in Germany and is also called wild chamomile) which is the medicinal variety used in chamomile tea. It gets about 12-18". This tastes like what you were expecting.
There's also Roman and Moroccan chamomiles which are medicinal but I've not grown those. They are a different species.
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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Mar 9, 2015 14:43:07 GMT -5
Brown, do you dry your parsley before using the mill? I was thinking it might stick if ground/chopped immediately after washing. I've had that problem when chopping parsley on a cutting board.
I like that gadget though; it looks like a giant pepper mill, which also got me wondering if that would work as well.
Have you ever tried grinding dried citrus rinds? I grind my dried orange rinds in an electric coffee grinder, which works well, but it can't be submersed for washing. I don't think there's a health issue with the mill though, because the oranges are scrubbed well before the rind is dried. (I recall that the issue of toxins on orange rinds was discussed on the old forum at one time). Still, I like the idea of immersing food implements in hot soapy water.
Red, I was wondering if the flowers were very, very dry and just fell off because of that? Also, from what I've read, German Chamomile is the variety to grow. I've had that problem with flower heads I've cut with intentions to use in wreaths, but the petals fell off. I think the extent of dryness was the issues, as I've dried those varieties before. (At this time I don't recall which ones they were though).
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Post by OregonRed on Mar 9, 2015 18:48:29 GMT -5
spring rain, I just don't know.... that was a 1st attempt, so....and I don't remember if it was german or not....
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Post by brownrexx on Mar 9, 2015 19:04:45 GMT -5
Brown, do you dry your parsley before using the mill? No drying, I just put the fresh herbs in and chop them right into my pot of food. It's wonderful. You twist the top back and forth and it has stainless steel blades that neatly slice the herb into tiny pieces. I love it and it is easy to wash. A few pieces may stick inside the chopper but then I just use extra so that I get as much chopped herb as I need.
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Post by breezygardener on Mar 9, 2015 19:35:57 GMT -5
I looked it up on Amazon, & there were more than a few negative reviews for this herb chopper. Am thinking I'll continue to stick with my good old sharp chef's knife.
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Post by Latitude33 on Mar 9, 2015 21:52:23 GMT -5
Can't get Echinacea to start from seed to save my backside. Many many years ago brought some dried chamomile flowers back from a farm I worked on over the summer and boy did it reseed. Prolific is not too strong a word. Mom still has it popping up. Liked it because of its appearance but never tried to use it directly. I'm with DW and inter-plant my basil with my tomatoes and then some. My sister likes to say she has two beaus in her life, Herb and Basil.
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Post by desertwoman on Mar 9, 2015 23:55:56 GMT -5
Lat-I'm surprised you can't get echinacea to reseed (or are you talking starting seed from a packet?). I have new babies popping up every year. They're all over the echinacea patch. I leave the seed heads for the birds over winter. Finches especially.
It may be that it is not cold enough where you are. You might try striation. And just barely cover the seed with 1/8" of soil.
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Post by breezygardener on Mar 10, 2015 9:52:54 GMT -5
I winter-sowed "PowWow Wild Berry" Echinacea (seed from Parks Seed Co.) using the plastic jug method & they did wonderfully. Didn't do anything special outside of how I usually winter sow: Poke some holes/slits in the bottom of an empty plastic water jug (discard cap), cut in half on three sides, fill bottom half with your favorite seed-starting mix, plant seeds, duct-tape top half of jug closed, place outside. Check occasionally to be sure soil doesn't dry out, but other than that, no other care required.
Besides the Echinacea, I've also successfully used this method with Mache (Lambs Lettuce), Columbine, Alpine Strawberries, Asian greens, Lemon Balm, & a number of others.
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Post by claude on Mar 10, 2015 10:14:42 GMT -5
I grew borage for the first time this year from a seed bomb that was a Christmas present from my youngest daughter. It contained nettle, camomile, borage, thistle and lemon verbena. Borage was the only tea worthy one that sprouted. Go figure. Echinecia does not like to be fed. It grows up and down either side of the blacktop driveway in a sandy, dry ish garden bed. I top mulch only to replenish and only watered when establishing the bed. It gets full sun. Only lavender and day lilies and mums can handle those beds.
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Post by brownrexx on Mar 10, 2015 10:15:29 GMT -5
I looked it up on Amazon, & there were more than a few negative reviews for this herb chopper Since it works so well for me I looked up reviews on Amazon. It is rated with 3.5 stars out of 5 overall which really is not that bad. It seems that people either love it (like me) or hate it. I think that I may see why some people hate it. I always clean mine right away by rinsing and it always comes clean. I almost never disassemble the blades because just a quick rinse removes all of the residue. However, I can see that it would be hard to clean if you did not rinse it right away and allowed the little pieces of leaves dry on the blades. They would probably stick on the blades pretty badly. Maybe some of the people who think that it's hard to clean don't wash it right away. Secondly some people want to put everything in the dishwasher but I don't do that with my mill so possibly that is a problem for some people. I have never tried it. Lastly some people mentioned having trouble chopping basil. I never do basil in this chopper. Because the leaves are so big and I only use a few of them, I usually use a knife. Maybe it does not work as well with the bigger leaves. I mostly use it for Italian Parsley and thyme which are my most commonly used herbs. In any case, I am not a big gadget person and I really love this mill.
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Post by claude on Mar 10, 2015 10:27:13 GMT -5
I just use a microplane for citrus rind on to a plate, let it dry and then store in an old spice bottle. If I'm making a large batch of herbs for Mediterranean cooking, I'll use the food processor. If I'm grinding peppercorns or caramon I'll use a coffee grinder. An old lady friend taught me to grind up a slice of bread in your spice grinder to clean it up after using, then rarely do you use water. Just a damp paper towel picks up the dust. Most of the time I just use a knife after stacking and rolling large leaves (chiffnaud?). I feed it bruses the basil less.
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Post by OregonRed on Mar 10, 2015 11:40:01 GMT -5
nice tips there claude. I also use a cheap thin paintbrush for cleaning the spice grinder - set aside just for that purpose
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Post by breezygardener on Mar 10, 2015 12:44:02 GMT -5
I used to use a small coffee grinder to grind spices, but then bought a small marble mortar & pestle that I like a lot better.
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