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Growing
and Selling
Fresh-Cut Herbs
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Herb
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Month
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month for a new herb, featuring: growing,
care and uses.
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Herb of the Month
Over the next year, the herb of the month feature will focus on those unusual herbs that a professional grower may occasionally be asked to supply. These profiles are supplied by Herbalpedia
Anise Hyssop
Agastache
foeniculum
Perennial
Up to 3 feet
Cultivation: A
perennial to zone 4. Space
1 to 1 ˝ feet. Soil
temperature best at 70-85F and should be well-drained, semi-rich, sandy
loam. It prefers full sun but
adapts to partial shade. Can
be propagated by seed, cuttings and root division.
Also self-seeds. Because the seeds are quite small, they can
successfully germinate only under a light soil covering and should be
planted either very near to, or actually on the soil surface.
The seeds germinate well, emerging in 4-10 days.
Seedlings transplant easily. The
plant grows very slowly initially and often requires 2 years from seed to
bloom. Seeds can be planted
in late fall, allowed to lie dormant through the winter, to germinate in
the early spring. Cuttings
can be rooted from soft or semi-ripe stems.
It does best in cool weather.
Abundant moisture is required, especially during dry periods.
Under drought conditions, plants will stop flowering in late
summer. On the other hand,
excessive rainfall or irrigation can also be damaging.
Anise hyssop dies back to the ground after a killing frost and is
late to come up in the spring. Harvest
leaves at any time during the growing season.
They can be used fresh or may be air-dried and stored in air-tight
containers. The most pungent
tea is brewed from fresh leaves or flowers. It’s recommended harvesting
the leaves early in the day during a sunny, rain –free period, in the
belief that this promoted the highest concentration of oils.
Grown as an essential oil plant, it has been estimated that the 50
kg of aromatic oils per ha can be expected.
A delightful licorice-mint taste makes anise hyssop leaf tea pleasing either hot or cold. The Plains Indians of North America found it a tasty food sweetener. To replace anise in a recipe, make a strong anise hyssop tea (using 1 teaspoon in ˝ cup water) and replace half of the recipe’s liquid with it. The fresh or dried leaves complement peas, lamb and other dishes, and can be added to flavor fruit salads and beverages. The flowers are also culinarily useful. The flowers have an anise flavor and can be used as a seasoning in baking and in teas, as well as in salads and as garnishes. The flowers tend to have a lighter flavor than the leaves.
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The
comprehensive revised edition of Growing and Selling Fresh-Cut Herbs
is available from most internet booksellers, bookstores, and in libraries.
It can be ordered from the publisher, Ball Publishing Ball
Bookshelf - Detail and the distributor, Independent Publishers
Group Independent
Publishers Group
E-mail your questions, tips
or suggestions.
I look forward to hearing from you.
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