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Sage!

3K views 19 replies 10 participants last post by  phatch 
#1 ·
So I have what an old student of mine would call a cubic s**t-ton of sage. The damn thing is a bush, and every year it gets bigger.

Apart from putting some in stuffing for poultry, or making a butter-sage sauce for gnocchi, what on earth can I do with the stuff?
 
#4 ·
Once you have a sage bush, you normally end up with much more sage than you can handle.

I have a sage marinade I use for porc (roasts, ribs, chops... anything you can grill or roast). In a blender:
• Sage leaves
• Garlic
• Dijon mustard
• Olive oil
• Soy sauce
• Red chili sauce
• S & P

Careful with salt, there's already soy sauce; however I do like using both together.

Another delicious use for sage is inside meatballs!
• 1/2 ground pork
• 1/2 ground beef
• breadcrumbs soaked in milk
• grated parmesan
• lightly caramelized minced shallots and garlic
• lemon zest
• finely chopped sage
• S & P
 
#6 ·
When I bought my house, there was a sage bush, 4 feet across. It's been up to about 7 feet lately but had some strong die-back this year. Plenty of new starts to work from if this one gives up.

Brianshaw, that ritual sage is usually Artemisia not Salvia, at least among the indigenous cultures of my state. You can buy dried bundles ready for smudging along with sweet grass and other interesting aromatic bundles. I have some of each growing in my yard. As far as I'm concerned, artemisia is only decorative and aromatic. I'm not brewing absinthe.


On weekends, there's a good Navajo Taco stand in the parking lot.
 
#8 ·
Don't knock it - I have a bay laurel bush a friend of mine gave me like 10yrs. ago. We put it out in the Summer and bring it in in the Winter. There is nothing like fresh bay leaves . . .

We also have a lot of thyme so I'll be drying a bunch of that for Winter use. Trying to dig it up would be a futile effort.
 
#9 ·
It is great for quick-smoking. When the dish is done throw a bunch of branches over, light up with a torch and cover. flavor your sushi and sashimi like that. Sage has a very strong flavor, I use the teensiest amounts. Like a dozen tiny leaves will flavor a serving of shrimp (gives a nice exotic flavor there). Don't overuse it for the sake of use. At seasons end burn the s..t ton that's left and enjoy the smoke. even just for inhaling. Buy one of those half-ounce plastic packs of fresh at the market and keep it in the freezer, if you're like me it will last all winter, and then some.
 
#17 ·
phatch:
That almost looks like wild sage, ..at least the stuff we have here in Canada.
The link pic looks like it's purple, it is not,.. it's grey-ish-green, kinda..
I use wild sage in very small amounts for Indian fry bread (pardon the non-woke).
It's good!
Other than that I, grow flat leaved, almost fuzzy sage..use it for (again) saltimbocca..or freeze it in small mason jars
 
#19 ·
I've found that most herbs like sage and rosemary have a discrete lifetime - 3 to 5 years. Rosemary seems eternal. I'm not sure if this is true but I believe it: keeping sage and rosemary trimmed tight extends the life. When mine got too rangy they expired. Here's mine: 3 years old and kept trimmed to about 18 cubic inches. It's not really sideways… it's just how the picture translated when uploaded.

Grey Wood Road surface Twig Tints and shades
 
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