CULINARY HERBS 3 



lack flavor they will surely fail in their mission, and 

 none of the neighbors will plot to steal the cook, 

 as they otherwise might did she merit the reputation 

 that she otherwise might, by using culinary herbs. 



This doleful condition may be prevented and the 

 cook enjoy an enviable esteem by the judicious use 

 of herbs, singly or in combination. It is greatly 

 to be regretted that the uses of these humble plants, 

 which seem to fall lower than the dignity of the title 

 "vegetable," should be so little understood bv intelli- 

 gent American housewives. 



In the flavoring of prepared dishes we Americans — 

 people, as the French say, "of one sauce" — might 

 well learn a lesson from the example of the English 

 matron who usually considers her kitchen incom- 

 plete without a dozen or more sweet herbs, either pow- 

 dered, or in decoction, or preserved in both ways. 

 A glance into a French or a German culinary depart- 

 ment would probably show more than a score ; but a 

 careful search in an American kitchen would rarely 

 reveal as many as half a dozen, and in the great 

 majority probably only parsley and sage would be 

 brought to light. Yet these humble plants possess 

 the power of rendering even unpalatable and insipid 

 dishes piquant and appetizing, and this, too, at a 

 surprisingly low cost. Indeed, most of them may be 

 grown in an out-of-the-way corner of the garden, or 

 if no garden be available, in a box of soil upon a 

 sunny windowsill — a method adopted by many for- 

 eigners living in tenement houses in New York and 

 Jersey City. Certainly they may be made to add 

 to the pleasure of living and, as Solomon declares. 



