A Chamomile Conundrum
My garden is chock full of really cute things to eat right now. Tiny cherry tomatoes, two-inch long zucchini, velvety new green beans. But last night I decided to award the prize for most adorable plant to my chamomile.
It wasn’t really a fair contest. It’s hard for the vegetables to compete with pint sized daisies that smell like freshly cut hay and green apples. Their cute quotient is just too high.
I spent over an hour snip, snip, snipping the tiny blossoms off the plant, but now I have no idea what I’m going to make with my first ever chamomile harvest.
Tea is an obvious choice, but I already have a bag of chamomile tea in the cupboard. So I’m thinking about trying to infuse the flavor of the blossoms into a simple syrup or maybe even making a lemon chamomile ice cream.
Stay tuned! I’ll let you know what I come up with (and if it tastes good!).
p.s. If you have any other recipe ideas for chamomile, I’m all ears.
I make a chamomile cooler. Take equal part of chamomile tea and apple juice, mix in a little crushed fresh lemon verbena. Serve over ice. Its super refreshing!
July 25th, 2008 at 1:57 pmI would try making a chamomile ice cream – this combination of chamomile and peaches sound really good for the summer – http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/dining/191crex.html
July 25th, 2008 at 4:49 pmWhat delightful ideas! I think I’m going to make an ice cream this weekend, but I have a huge bag of chamomile tea that will be perfect for the cooler. I’d never thought of mixing herbal tea and lemonade. Yum!
July 29th, 2008 at 5:19 pmWow, we are on the same wave length today! I’ve been harvesting alot of chamomile also and thought I had an original idea of making chamomile ice cream. Very happy to see others have already done this to get inspired by. Love the blog!!
Happy Gardening and Cooking!!
diana
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:42 pmA Little Bit of Spain in Iowa
I have officially planted my first ever crop of Chamomile…and I am SO excited! It isnt like basil, tomatoes, or carrots…which everyone seems to grow. I hope that I produce a good crop from it!
April 6th, 2010 at 10:05 amBrooke–You’ll only have to plant it once. I started it from seed a few years ago and now get an ample crop every spring. It self sows everywhere, but pulls up easily so it’s not really a pest.
April 7th, 2010 at 8:48 am