Herb-growing tests

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33060, 30 October 1972, Page 5

Herb-growing tests

New Zealanders might eat tastier meals because of a project begun this year by the Crop Research Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research at Lincoln.

The division will assess a wide range of culinary herbs for commercial growing in New Zealand. The main market for such herbs would be the food-pro-cessing industries, but if industrial demand for seasonings makes it worth while to grow herbs as a specialised crop, some should also find their way into shops as fresh herbs and add piquancy to home cooking. TARRAGON INTEREST The first trial this season is with tarragon, because a New Zealand firm is interested in manufacturing tarragon vinegar. During the season, Mr L. C. Hurndell, the officer conducting the project, will also establish trial plantings of thyme, sage, caraway, dill, marjoram, florence, fennel, sweet basil, parsley, lovage, horse-radish, and soup celery. Later, the programme will be extended to include many other herbs that are used around the world for flavouring purposes—among them possibly anise, angelica, cumin, sesame, lavender, and rosemary. Dried herbs are sold in shops and widely used by housewives in New Zealand, but the generally preferable fresh forms have tended to be available only to those

home gardeners sufficiently interested to grow their own. The expansion and diversification of the food-process-ing industries, the trend away from home gardening, and the increasing sophistication of food tastes in New Zealand might create a growing demand for fresh herbs.

If so, the Crop Research Division findings will be a

useful indication of the practicability of meeting the demand. In the photograph, Mr Humdell is seen with some of the herbs he is propagating in the glasshouse for planting in die field. Tarragon is in the foreground and others in the picture are thyme, sage, and horse-radish.