Rosemary for Remembrance

I love rosemary, whenever I brush up againist it's leaves the piney sent makes me feel good! So today in weeding in the garden I decided to write about rosemary and provide a great easy and popular way I have used this wonderful herb.

ROSEMARY

Rosmarinus officinalis

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“Grow young along with me! The best is yet to be. The last of life, for which the first was made.”  -Browning

Robert Browning musing on the herb Rosemary? We suggest that the gloomiest, darkest days in winter are the best time to appreciate an herb that according to one herbal, “will keepe thee youngly.” Glorious rosemary! It looks likes a diminutive woody tree with pine-needle-like leaves, dark green above and white beneath.  The leaves taste pine fresh, with a hint of pepper that leaves a warm feeling within.  In the axils of the leaves pink, blue, or white flowers bloom – similar to tiny orchids.

Rosemary is a semihardy, woody perennial, low shrub and is used for culinary, medicinal and crafts as well as ornamentally. The generic and common names are derived from the Latin ros-marinus, ‘dew of the sea’, in reference to its favorite habitat near salty sea spray. Its specific name refers to its inclusion in the early pharmacopoeias because of its medicinal properties. It grows from 2 to 6 feet high and up to six feet wide. It will grow well in full sun to partial shade and will take almost any soil as long as it is well drained. Indoors, big pots of rosemary reach for filtered southern sun, a six hour sustenance. They prosper in a cool (45 to 55 degree) spot.

Rosemary is an herb of strong, diverse symbols. It has been considered the emblem of loyalty, friendship and remembrance. Where basil symbolized the quickening of love, rosemary was a token of its long-lasting qualities. Bridesmaids wove rosemary into the bridal wreath they presented to the bridegroom on the wedding day. It was also placed under nuptial mattresses to encourage faithfulness and discourage insects and mildew. 

According to custom, rosemary twined in your hair stimulated the memory or helped prevent baldness, depending upon your need.  Also connoting friendship, no more cherished party favor could be offered than a gilded rosemary twig.

Rosemary flourished through medieval and Renaissance periods.  Every garden seemed to have a single bush or several, often pruned in fanciful or symmetrical shapes.  The essential oil or the leaves and flowers were used as a bath freshener and mouthwash, in liniments  and as a moth repellent.

Rosemary has been grown in gardens for so long that natural hybrids  have occurred, resulting in forms suitable  for many landscape situations.  Rosmarinus officinalis has an upright, shrublike growth habit, reaching 3 to 6 feet high and as wide. Plants blend well with many gray- foliaged plants found in the herb garden.

R. officinalis ‘Prostratus’ is the ground-hugging form, more commonly grown in mild winter regions of the West.  It performs well as a cascading ground cover draped over a wall, on slopes or in the foreground of a flowerbed. The gray-green leaves create a dense, 2-foot-high plant that can spread 4 to 6 feet in diameter. 

ROSEMARY  KNOW-HOW

Use two teaspoons of minced fresh leaf in a recipe to serve four.

If you only have dried rosemary, use a teaspoon in a recipe to serve four.(Dried leaves are tough little spikes! Finely mince for comfortable chewing.)

Tie a couple of sprigs of rosemary together with some string or raffia to make an herbal whisk.  Send it along with a thank-you note for a recent dinner party because “Rosemary is for remembrance.”

Add one tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary to a favorite corn muffin or biscuit recipe.

Try a small amount of finely chopped rosemary in your cake mix, for an unusual taste.  We make a wonderful cake with rum, orange-rind and rosemary.

Add a few drops of essential oil of rosemary to your own home-made hair tonic of ½ teaspoon sesame oil.  Dip your fingers into the mixture and burrow your fingers into your hair and scalp massaging  while deeply breathing to help cure a common headache.

Try growing a rosemary plant to help improve your life and those around you.

Urbanherbal’s

Rosemary Orange Rum Cake

1  2 layer package yellow cake mix

1 small package vanilla instant pudding mix

1 tablespoon finely minced fresh rosemary

Grated zest of one orange

½ cup water

½ cup canola oil

½ cup light rum

4 extra large eggs

1 cup of toasted chopped pecans

Glorious Glaze

            Combine cake mix, pudding mix, rosemary, and orange zest in a food processor or blender. Process until well mixed. Add water, oil, and rum; mix well. Add eggs one at a time; mix well after each addition. Blend in pecans. Pour into Bundt pan sprayed with nonstick baking spray. Bake at 325 degrees for one hour or until wooden toothpick comes out clean. Pour Glorious Glaze over cake in pan. Allow glaze to soak in completely before removing cake from pan. Invert cake so that glazed top is facing up. Garnish with long rosemary sprigs.

Glorious Glaze

½ cup unsalted butter

1 cup of sugar

¼ cup water

¼ cup rum

½ tablespoon finely minced rosemary

Bring butter, sugar, water and rum to a boil in a saucepan. Boil until the mixture reaches soft-ball stage 

or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer. Yields enough glaze for one cake.

From Along The Garden Path by Bill & Sylvia Varney