Aug 19 2022

August 25 Meeting: Be an Herbal Gourmet

Posted at 7:49 pm under Meetings

Our August speaker, Marcy Lautanen-Raleigh, the creator and owner of Backyard Patch Herbs, an online purveyor of salt-free, gluten-free, preservative-free herb cooking and tea products. She began growing herbs in 1994 with a small kitchen garden. Currently, after 25 years, she has expanded to a 3⁄4 acre garden. Over the years she has learned much about herbs, their growing habits, uses and quirks. She began speaking in the 80s as a museum curator and director and moved to sharing herb information in the 90s including at the Morton Arboretum, Chicago Flower and Garden Show, online on the Backyard Patch Herbal Blog, and at local libraries and garden clubs in Chicagoland.

During her program, ‘Be an Herbal Gourmet,’ Marcy will demonstrate how, by adding even the most basic herbs to your culinary palette, you can make your cooking more interesting, delicious and enjoyable. Demonstrations will include how to create herb mixtures to replace salt in food, techniques for infusing vinegar, sugar, compound butter and herb paste. Techniques will be demonstrated. Discussion of herbs and samples will be included.

Adding herbs can enhance flavors and allow for more healthful cooking. It is easy to create herb mixtures to replace salt in food. This and other tips for using herbs to cook with everyday are included in this lecture. The discussion includes flavor families, what herbs to use with certain dishes, and how to create herbal vinegars, butters and other items which can add herb flavors to cooking when herbs themselves are not appropriate.

Meeting Location: St Andrew Lutheran Church NE Corner of Prince Crossing & Geneva Road.

Meeting Time: 6:45PM Refreshments – 7:00PM Business Meeting – 7:15PM Program

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