Salad burnet-a great herbal salad addition

Monday, September 7, 2015

Salad burnet in flower

Salad burnet has a cucumber, granny smith apple, cilantro type flavor.  It is great in salads, on vegetables, in herb butters, casseroles, soaps, and on fish.  It has a bright, fresh flavor.  Makes me think of spring with every bite.

Salad burnet is a hardy herb that comes back year after year.  This past mild winter in our Zone 6 garden, it remained green for the entire winter.  If it does die back, it is one of the first the sprout in the spring.  It grows well in pots or the garden bed.

Its leaves are feathery.  They look so light and airy.  I like them in the garden for their ornamental value as well as a salad herb.

I use it in salads frequently and as a substitute for cilantro for salsa in the summer.   Cilantro is an annual and bolts when the hot temps set in.  Salad burnet is a great substitute.

In the health arena, an infusion can relieve hemorrhoids or diarrhea while the fresh leaves are a great source of vitamin C and aid digestion.  For more information, http://www.fs.fed.us/database/

Salad burnet can reseed itself easily.  It requires no special growing conditions.  It does prefer limy soil, but our pH is neutral and they do great.  It even does well in light shade.  To keep the leaves the most tender, remove the flower heads.

Salad burnet on left front in spring

Salad burnet is native to Europe, northwest Africa and southwest Asia.  It was brought over by the Pilgrims to New England and has naturalized over most of the U.S.