The Italian Herb Garden

Italy is a country that loves its food like few others do. With this in mind, creating an Italian Herb Garden, growing a selection of the most widely used and favorite Italian herbs is a fantastic way to get started home growing your own herbs or simply branching out from others you already grow.
Themed home herb gardens have become very popular and growing a specific country or regions herbs can not only provide a lovely little niche for your home herb garden but also come in extremely handy when trying to cook and replicate traditional recipes from that particular area. It's all there in one spot!
Gardens such as these can also ensure that the herbs are actually used! You would be surprised at how many herbs are grown only to wither and die un-harvested simply because the grower did not really have an end use for them.
If you are a true lover of Italian food and wish to cook these wonderful, flavorsome recipes at home, then growing your own ingredients in an Italian Herb Garden will ensure they live up to their full potential and end up in your kitchen pots - not the mulch!
In the remainder of this article we will talk about some of the main herbs that are commonly grown and used in Italian cuisine and also some of the foods they are used for.
We will commence with one of the most unmistakable aromas - Garlic. I challenge you to try and make your way through an Italian restaurant or authentic pizza kitchen and try to find several recipes without this kitchen necessity! Garlic is quite easy to grow and is certainly an instant selection when picking your team of herbs for your Italian Herb Garden! Its use in Italian cooking is enormously widespread and you will need many a clove of garlic if trying to navigate your way through an Italian cookbook!
Garlic is used to flavor an incredible number of dishes from pizzas and of course garlic bread to stir-fry's, steaks as well as just about everything in between.
Basil is another commonly used herb in Italian cooking. It has a distinctive flavor which is used to enhance many traditional Italian recipes and is particularly charming when combined with any type of tomato dish and is absolutely essential, shredded on your bruschetta!
Parsley is another wonderful ingredient in Italian cuisine and should also rightfully take its place in your Italian Herb Garden. Sometimes there is a tendency for parsley to only be used as a visual garnish however this is a slap in the face for the sharp yet subtle flavor of parsley. An incredibly easy but delicious side dish or snack is grilled tomatoes, cut in half and grilled for a few minutes then drizzled with a good olive oil mixed with some crushed garlic and chopped parsley!
Italian herbs frequently found in seafood and chicken recipes are sage, fennel, mint, thyme and rosemary. Don't forget to remove and discard the sprigs of some of these herbs such as rosemary after cooking. They are great flavor enhancers but do not taste very good when eaten directly!
When cooking strong dishes like venison which has dark, gamey meat, you need strong, robust herbs like Cloves, Juniper and Allspice to provide balance.
Basil, fennel seeds, rosemary sprigs and garlic are all friends of beef recipes and used comprehensively. Parsley is often used also, especially in beef dishes containing sauce.
For all you focaccia lovers out there, when making your own focaccia dough's at home, don't leave rosemary, basil leaves and sage leaves off your list! These ingredients are normally pressed into the dough before baking or scattered over the golden brown bread immediately after it has come out of the oven.
Many home herb gardeners love to grow mint for the delightful fragrance it produces in and around their garden. It can also however, be very useful in culinary situations like a subtle addition to strawberry sorbet or gelato and also goes very well in salsas and dips.
These are just some of the wonderful Italian herbs that could easily take their rightful place in your home grown, Italian Herb Garden. The final make up should be determined by which exact Italian herbs you will ideally use in your cooking.
I hope this article has shed a little light on some of the amazing Italian herbs there are out there and how you can use them to create just a touch of Little Italy in your kitchen and on your dinner table!