Video:What Is a Culinary Herb?

Transcript:What Is a Culinary Herb?

Hi, I'm Nadia Chapman for About.com, and I'm here today to talk about culinary herbs.

What Are Culinary Herbs?

Culinary herbs are herbs that add flavor to food or beverages. You can eat them fresh or dry, and you can freeze then too. Note that the best moment to pick culinary herbs is right before they bloom, that's when the flavor is the strongest. The list is long when it comes to culinary herbs. Some of the most popular ones are parsley, chives, basil, cilantro and oregano, just to name a few. Here are other examples.

Sage Is a Culinary Herb

Here we have a tri-color sage and purple sage, and there's also a variegated yellow sage. They are beautiful plants, plus they grow lovely purple flowers, so there's great for landscape plants as well as being culinary. You can save the tiny black seeds from your sage plants and plant those. They are easily cultivated and you'll get a very good germination on those. Sage leaves are popular with poultry and meat.

Spearmint Is a Culinary Herb

Spearmint is the flavor you taste in gum and toothpaste. It's also a wonderful tea, it's great in salads, and cocktails. If you grow spearmint, try to contain the plant with a border since it has a tendency to spread.

Peppermint Is a Culinary Herb

Peppermint is related to spearmint. Peppermint has a darker green leaf, it's less fuzzy than spearmint, and it has more of a reddish stem. But, both spearmint and peppermint have a square stem. Peppermint is popular in deserts, and goes well with chocolate especially when it's the holiday season. It's also great in tea, and it's mild stimulant, so it will wake you up. Make sure you put your peppermint plants in someplace where it has plenty of room to grow, and put a barricade to keep them from getting to other plants. They will also grow a beautiful purple flower.

Thanks for watching. For more information on culinary herbs, visit us at About.com.