30 CULINARY HERBS 



turnea every day to remove the last vestige of mois- 

 ture. It will be even better still to have the drying 

 sheet suspended so air may circulate below as well 

 as above the seed. Not less than a week for the 

 smallest seeds and double that time for the larger 

 ones is necessary. To avoid loss or injury it is im- 

 perative that the seed be dry before it is put in the 

 storage packages. Of course, if infusions are to be 

 made all this is unnecessary; the seed may be put in 

 the liquor as soon as the broken stems, etc., are 

 removed subsequent to threshing. 



HERBS AS GARNISHES 



As garnishes several of the culinary herbs are 

 especially valuable. This is particularly true of 

 parsley, which is probably more widely used than 

 any other plant, its only close rivals being water- 

 cress and lettuce, which, however, are generally 

 inferior to it in delicacy of tint and form of foliage, 

 the two cardinal virtues of a garnish. 



Parsley varieties belong to three principal groups, 

 based upon the form of the foliage: (i) Plain varie- 

 ties, in which the leaves are nearly as they are in 

 nature ; (2) moss-curled varieties in which they are 

 curiously and pleasingly contorted ; and (3) fern 

 leaved, in which the foliage is not curled, but much 

 divided into threadlike parts. 



The moss-curled varieties are far more popular 

 than the other two groups put together and are the 

 only ones used especially as garnishes with meat 

 dishes in the hotels and restaurants of the large 



