Salad burnet, Poterium sanguisorba, is an interesting
herb to grow in your garden with it's fern-like leaves,
but even more importantly it's an easy to grow, useful
herb. It's leaves taste much like cucumber, and can be
used whole in salads or chopped into soups and other
dishes.
Burnet is a perennial that can be grown from seed,
and harvested early the first year. Start indoors to
give it a head start or direct seed after the last frost.
The first year it will reach 6-8 inches, and you can
begin using the leaves when they are about 4 inches
high. Cut back your burnet and use the leaves often,
this will keep them coming and they won't get large
enough to become tough.
You can plant burnet in
light shade-but it needs about 6 hours of sun to do
well. It's not picky about soil-wet feet in heavy soil
can rot the roots, but dry soil is no problem. In mild
climates it will continue to grow into the winter months,
and it comes back quickly in the spring, following the
chives, which seem to always pop up first. Keep the
flowers cut off for the best performance, or allow one
plant to reseed itself if you wish. The second year it
will grow to 18 inches, but again, if allowed to grow
this large without harvesting it will become tough.
Burnet does not dry well, but you can freeze it or
use it in your herb vinegar mixtures. It has an
excellant flavor for vinegars that you use in salad
dressings! The tender leaves can be used in dips,
with fish, or in tea sandwiches.
Burnet Tea Sandwiches
Ingredients:
1 pound loaf unsliced white bread (or 2 smaller loaves)
1/2 cup butter
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons chives, chopped
1/4 cup chopped salad burnet leaves
1/4 cup milk or cream
lettuce
Trim the crust from loaves and cut bread into 1/2
inch slices. Mix together cream cheese, butter,
and milk. Add burnet and chives. Lightly spread
mix on one side of each slice of bread. Top with
pieces of lettuce and put two slices together.
Wrap all with foil until time to serve, and cut into
four squares or triangles.
Dill Burnet Butter
Ingredients:
1/2 pound unsalted butter
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
2-3 salad burnet sprigs
2-3 sprigs fresh dill
Blend all ingredients thoroughly until all is
creamed. Use on sandwiches, fish or
vegetables after steaming.
Herb Vingear for Dressings
Combine two sprigs each of oregano, salad
burnet, thyme, and parsley. Add five to six
stems of chives (the blooms are nice too if
it's that time of year). Place these in a quart jar
and pour the vinegar over the herbs until almost
full. Place the lid on and allow to sit for 3-4 weeks.
Strain and use on fish and in salad dressings.
Herb Dressing and Mixed Green Salad
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups olive oil
3 Tbsp. herb vinegar
1 Tbsp. honey
3-4 Sprigs each: Salad Burnet, Oregano and Basil
Mixture of salad greens and lettuce
thinly sliced and seeded cucumber slices
radishes, green or red pepper and tomato
Combine oil, vinegar, honey, salad burnet,
marjoram, oregano and basil sprigs in blender
and process until smooth. Chill 2 hours. Use
over a salad of mixed greens with thinly sliced
vegetables.
About the author:
Brenda Hyde is a freelance writer and editor of Old Fashioned Living. Visit
http://grace-whimsy.blogspot.com/
to read her blog of motherhood and
country life.
