Salad Burnet - In February many long for a toasted cucumber and tomato sandwich or sliced cucumbers with a meal. For some it is a longing they can't give in to because cucumbers bother their digestion. Salad burnet is a little known herb whose leaves have a distinctive cucumber taste and won't cause indigestion! If plants are brought inside in the fall we could have that great cucumber taste all winter.I have been introducing this herb in herb growing courses and everyone has been intrigued by it. A short-lived perennial to zone 4, salad burnet has had medicinal uses for 2000 years but is mainly grown for culinary purposes now.
The plant grows to a height of one foot with deep-green serrated leaves, often with reddish stems. The flower is purplish-red in a nut-like formation and can be used the same as the leaves. Seeds can be started indoors 4-6 weeks before the last frost .
Cover the pot with paper to keep the darkness. Sow thickly to have a good clump to transplant outside after the frost deadline. Mature plants have a long taproot and resent transplanting so move plants while they are small. They self-seed readily. Watch for little clusters of bright green leaves close to the mature plants in the early spring and transplant them when they are a few inches high. Set plants 12-18 inches apart.
Like most herbs, salad burnet likes the sun and well drained soil. Pick the young leaves before the flowers open to snip into a salad for a nutty cucumber flavour. Lay a few leaves on tomatoes in a sandwich. Salad burnet leaves will flavour cream cheese, soup, sour cream dips, vinegars - anywhere you want a cucumber flavour. Let some plants go to flower and use in the same way. The blooming plants also make a nice display in the herb garden. The leaves of salad burnet lose some flavour when dried so enjoy them while they are fresh.
The plant grows to a height of one foot with deep-green serrated leaves, often with reddish stems. The flower is purplish-red in a nut-like formation and can be used the same as the leaves. Seeds can be started indoors 4-6 weeks before the last frost .
Cover the pot with paper to keep the darkness. Sow thickly to have a good clump to transplant outside after the frost deadline. Mature plants have a long taproot and resent transplanting so move plants while they are small. They self-seed readily. Watch for little clusters of bright green leaves close to the mature plants in the early spring and transplant them when they are a few inches high. Set plants 12-18 inches apart.
Like most herbs, salad burnet likes the sun and well drained soil. Pick the young leaves before the flowers open to snip into a salad for a nutty cucumber flavour. Lay a few leaves on tomatoes in a sandwich. Salad burnet leaves will flavour cream cheese, soup, sour cream dips, vinegars - anywhere you want a cucumber flavour. Let some plants go to flower and use in the same way. The blooming plants also make a nice display in the herb garden. The leaves of salad burnet lose some flavour when dried so enjoy them while they are fresh.