What's Your Favorite Fresh Herb?

I love fresh herbs, and it is really hard to choose one favorite, but I would have to say that my favorite fresh herb is sage. I love the soft, fuzzy texture. The earthy smell. The silvery-green color. And the taste. It's just not stuffing without sage. Roast potatoes are so wonderful with it. You can fry it. It can be made into pesto.

My second runner-up is fresh tarragon, that piquant hard-to-find herb with a slight anise taste. It gives my salads and marinades a special something. It can be infused in cocktails and pairs well with strawberry in jam.

What is your favorite fresh herb?

P.S. Before you ask, the red poppy creamer was found in a small antique store in the French Alps ...

(Image: Kathryn Hill)

Comments (34)

For me, Sage runs a close second to rosemary, both of which I have growing on my windowsill.

Cilantro

I love flat leaf parsley for it's fresh flavor that can put a garden flavor into any dish. Goes with nearly any type of food, but most often I slow-cook garlic in olive oil and throw on some pasta, then it's just lemon, asiago, pepper, salt, and parsley.

i don't usually cook much with thyme (we're a big cilantro and basil family), but i bought some recently for a recipe (garlic soup from 101cookbooks) and have been loving finding ways to use it...in a lemony mushroom risotto, sprinkled over roasted sweet potatoes, in scrambled eggs...definitely a current favorite!

Basil.

Although, mint is a close second. It makes my spare bedroom smell wonderful.

Cilantro

Basil, followed closely by rosemary.

flat leaf parsley, hands down. it adds brightness to everything!

Living in an apartment and being dirt poor I don't get much in the way of fresh herbs, but when I do I usually go for cilantro. It has such a strong flavor that a little bit can go a long way. I use it with some lime juice in rice, or I mix it in with salsa or guacamole.

Since I'm named after it, Rosemary has to be my hands down favorite with sage and basil tying for second.

parsley. parsley. parsley.

I will say though, I now know how someone can vehemently hate an herb. I once had a kitchen failure with a particularly bad soup using a Bittman recipe that featured sage. I can't smell sage now without wanting to wretch.

THYME, hands down.

I use it in everything and it's so easy to grow.

My favorite is rosemary, but then sage! Fried sage is my secret weapon.

Although I just clicked on your fried sage link, and it's quite different than how I have done it before. I use the technique in this salmon recipe:
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/19/nyregion/food-the-subtle-flavor-of-fried-sage.html
and it is awesome.

and here I thought I'd be the odd one out with this "boring" response.... PARSLEY!

I love love love flat leaf parsley. I love it more in large quantities. I add an entire bunch of it into my spinach soup and spinach dip... I also prefer parsley pesto to traditional basil pesto.....

It's such a lovely herb.

Thai basil!

DILL.

0.000000000001 seconds behind it would be Cilantro!

Basil for me!

Nothing makes me happier than fresh basil. Its magic :)

Coriander, basil, tarragon.

ITALIAN PARSLEY!!

Top choice: Basil. Second: other types of basil :-) Third: Cilantro.

I've got an overgrowth of sage and rosemary. I like them but don't eat them in quantity. And they've grown like crazy this year!

Oh, basil. I could marry basil. Dill, sage, rosemary, thyme, and just about every other fresh herb have special places in my heart. But when I smell fresh basil, it's just bliss.

I'm in the basil camp. I usually plant a minimum of 4 sweet/Genovese plants every year, and then try a new variety. Previous varieties have been Thai basil, one with a red leaf that I don't know the name of and lemon basil. Maybe going to try cinnamon basil next year. I love most fresh herbs but basil is the king.

Another vote for basil (and cilantro as the runner-up).

Onepot
http://onepot.wordpress.com

Rosemary, 2nd runner up--Thyme.

can't name a favorite- like them for different reasons.
Basil- is summer
Cilantro- brightens everything up
rosemary- reminds me of Christmas (don't know why)
Mint- can't have a mojito without one
Dill- turns everything into something special
Lemongrass- fresh, lemony, grassy taste
tarragon- yummy in salads

Will definitely add parsely to the garden next year, seems to be a favorite that I have not cooked with enough.

While these other herbs are lovely, my absolute favorite is marjoram. I sometimes forget it, but our reunions are glorious!

Basil, without question. Parsley and Oregano tie for second place, however.

Cilantro (or coriander as I knew it for most of my life) is my absolute favourite! Cannot live without it. There is always, always some of this herb at home.

Rosemary and thyme tie for a comfortable second. Since I use them often but not in as much quantity as cilantro, I can have small pots of them growing on my window-sill.

My stealth herb-love is mint! A whiff of it makes me just deliriously happy everytime! If I smell it at the store, I buy lots of it on the spot. Then I have the dilemma of dealing with ten bunches of mint. But the apartment smells heavenly! :)

Sage pesto? Really? I like sage, but a pesto does seem a bit too much of a good thing...

I love tarragon as well (heck, I love sage too), but my favorite favorite favorite fresh herb is hands-down, cilantro. I love it.

Thyme, no question.

It's subtle and refreshing. Also, it goes with darn near everything. I love making thyme-infused simple syrup to mix into cocktails, especially gin. *swoon*

ABreadADay.com

thanks for the sage ideas -- I have a plant that's going great guns, and haven't been able to use it up fast enough. I'm intrigued to try frying sage in tempura batter; I usually just fry it in butter.

I'll have to add thyme to my favourites, too. Thyme on roasted carrots—yum!

Now if only I could stop killing the plants in the winter.