In a lucky year, an abundance of herbs offers the luxury of seasoning with generosity: new potatoes roasted with rosemary is an iconic savory combination, and one that I both love and look forward to. After tentatively harvesting a few sprigs of my favorite herbs in spring, I look forward to preserving my bountiful herb harvest for winter (join us for Herb Day on September 14th to learn more!). But abundance can also be an invitation to playfulness: what flavor combinations can we try, if herbs are no longer a luxury, if we have enough to experiment?

There’s a delight in re-meeting a known herb and learning fresh aspects of its character. A research trip once brought me to some Paraguayan farming cooperatives, where my hosts greeted me at dawn with hot yerba mate prepared with grated coconut and rosemary. The flavor combination surprised me, but Paraguayan tereré drinkers mix a wide range of medicinal herbs into their iced mate. Years later, a friend of my mother’s wowed a potluck gathering with a simple skillet shortbread flecked with fresh rosemary, and I’ve since enjoyed Nu Chocolat’s rosemary orange truffle. In these preparations, rosemary’s piney resin plays a sweet and almost citric accompaniment to the richness of coconut, butter, and chocolate, and was such a compelling surprise; it almost felt like a different ingredient altogether!

In other climates, the herbs we keep in pots and nurse through Vermont winters (or try to), grow into startlingly tall shrubs and trees. When I think about it, it’s amazing that we get to enjoy so many herbs from warmer climates as much as we do! As I write from the semi-tropical high plains of Cochabamba, Bolivia, I’m reminded of the bay laurel trees and rosemary and lavender bushes that friends have proudly shown me in their gardens in the last few weeks, and meeting those plants in elder incarnations I don’t get to see at home. Here too, pápalo, one of Red Wagon’s specialty herbs and a staple in much of Latin American cooking, is called by its Quechua name, quilquiña, and waves at my tastebuds from salads, stews and savory baked goods.

Meeting an herb in a new way always makes me curious about what other new ways I could meet and enjoy the herbs I know and love. My friend Carolina’s watermelon and tomato salad with mint and feta dressing is a revelation of sweet, fresh and savory flavors. What herb recipes have surprised and delighted you recently? Let us know! Email us at info@redwagonplants.com with your favorites!