USING SAVORY IN COOKERY

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32018, 19 June 1969, Page 3

USING SAVORY IN COOKERY

All dried herbs should be soaked in lemon juice for several minutes before cooking to bring out the flavour, Mrs P. G. Hill said in her talk on the herb, savory, at the Canterbury Herb Society’s first annual meeting. Both winter (satureia montana) and summer (satureia hortensis) savory originated in the warmer areas of the Mediterranean and were used by the Saxons for flavouring food, she said. The Romans used savory as we would use mint, and there was a reference in Virgin to the herb. Because of its pungent but sweet flavour savory was added to a type of vinegar in the days when spices were expensive. Monks cultivated the herb in monastery gardens and acclaimed it as a good bee plant IN HEDGES I “The herb can be made into low, clipped hedges up to 12 indies in height The

old gardens at Hampton Court have thyme and savory hedges which were common in Elizabethan and Stuart times. The Knot gardens at Hampton Court also display thyme and savory hedges,” said Mrs Hill.

Summer savory, which liked a sunny position, rich soil and thrived on humus, was sown by seed, 70 per cent of which should germinate. Seed should be lightly covered by soil, she said. Winter savory grew readily from cuttings and seed, requiring a sandy soil. “As its name implies the herb comes from the hills, and grows well on poor ground. It is a perennial, rather like thyme, and rather woody, and stands cutting back,” she said. The plant had a small white but some varieties could be obtained with heliotrope to purple blooms. Both’' savories dried well, and summer savory. was especially adaptable. It should be cut when it came to flower, and hung in bunches or laid on screens. Drying time was one week to 10 days.

For cooking it was used to best advantage with green beans, particularly broad beans. “Frozen beans reclaim their flavour with the addition of savory, which helps retain the flavour of any food with which it is cooked,” she said. “It’s especially useful in stews, and in olden days was used as a dressing for trout It can also be used as an addition to the traditional bouquet garni.” Summer savory was the better flavour. The winter savory was more pungent, she said.

Members sampled leek and potato soup, broad beans, apple jelly and hot French rolls flavoured, with savory.

KETTLE CLEANING. You will And that quaint old copper kettle presents no cleaning problems if you fill it with water, bring to the boil; and then, while still hot, wipe over the outside with a cloth dipped in sour milk.