Happy Thanksgiving Eve! I’m on my way to celebrate the holiday with my family in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I plan on eating a generous helping of my favorite Thanksgiving side dish: oven baked cornbread stuffing!

Sage is a classic addition to stuffing because it adds a savory undertone to the buttery bread bits. My very favorite culinary sage is ‘Berggarten’. This fabulous German variety has a very mild flavor and it almost never flowers, which means you don’t have to worry about the leaves developing a resinous taste and a tough texture. Berggarten grows quickly—forming a three-foot wide mound in the space of one growing season—and its velvety silver leaves make lovely garnishes and fry up nicely. I just love it! The leaves get a bit bedraggled by the end of winter, so I usually shear the mound back by about 1/3 in late spring and it rebounds in no time. This sage also looks great in containers, especially if paired up with dark foliaged plants like purple shiso or ‘Ararat’ basil.

I hope you all enjoy your holiday. I’ll be taking a break from blogging for the next few days so I can concentrate on eating my way through Santa Fe. I’m planning on hunting down some of those famous Hatch chiles, so stay tuned for some New Mexican inspired recipes soon.

Photo via Jim Henkens.

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