Herbalicious
Back in September 2017 we were involved in a project organised by Sussex Community Development Association and funded by Devonshire West Big Local.
As part of a series of events called 'A Taste of Culture' we ran a pilot workshop called 'Herbalicious'.
The workshop was an introduction to basic culinary herbs and their uses.
The aim was to introduce the most popular culinary herbs that you can find in our public planters and park installations; to help people become more confident in using them in their everyday cooking and to support a healthy diet.
We used everyday herbs such as Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Parsley, Mint and Chives.
The workshop was well attended with over 12 attendees coming along to taste, smell and experience herbs and learn easy ways to use and preserve them.
We started with a welcome and herbal tea while everyone was invited to familiarise themselves with the herbs on their table.
We then all made a herb bundle with string which is a great way of tying herbs up to dry.
We demonstrated making a simple pesto with fresh basil, pine nuts and olive oil in a food processor, this was then tasted by everyone on fresh crusty bread.
Attendees were then invited to make a herbal butter of their choice following a demonstration on making simple herb butters.
We also had a jar of cream being shaken and passed round the room to demonstrate how simple churning small amounts of butter is, which was loads of fun and quite challenging.
We then went on to talk about how to preserve herbs in oil for the freezer and how to infuse honey and sugar with herbs such as mint, lavender or fennel for sweet culinary uses and everyone enjoyed tasting all the herbal delights.
We followed this by discussing herbal oils and vinegar's where everyone was invited to make their own herbal oil, vinegar or sugar to take home.
Everyone got stuck in and made full use of the gift bags, labels and jars to make herbalicious delights to take home and enjoy.
