I love fresh herbs and theres nothing better than wandering out to my kitchen garden to pick my own, but lets face it most of us dont have fresh herbs all year long, so heres an easy to remember substitution solution.
If you want to substitute dried herbs in a recipe that calls for fresh, the conversion is simple. Reduce tablespoons to teaspoons; two Tablespoons of fresh oregano equals two teaspoons dried. Just keep in mind that essential oils are more concentrated in dried herbs so you use less.
Ginger is an exception to this interchangeable rule. If a recipe calls for fresh ginger, you cannot substitute ground. The flavors are completely different.
Heres a clever tip
You can perk up the flavor of a dried herb by combining it with common fresh parsley. Pick the parsley leaves from the stems, sprinkle with the required amount of dried herbs and chop the parsley fine. This breathes life into the dried product and adding parsley couldnt hurt any dish.
Identifying your herbs
Epicurious.com has a great visual guide to herbs. I admit it, from time to time; Ive planted an herb in the garden and forgotten exactly what it is. Epicurious to the rescue.
Buon Appetit!
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