herbs

Item	Photo	Taste	Utilize	Cooking Use
ALLSPICE		Like a mix of nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon	Freshly ground	Virtually anything, from salads to desserts
ANISE		Sweet, similar to licorice	Dried seeds	As flavoring in cookies, candies and pastries; also in poultry dishes
BASIL		Pungent, somewhat sweet	Fresh	Tomato dishes, with eggplant, for pesto, in Thai and Vietnamese foods, addition to salads and many cooked vegetables
BAY		Mild	Dried	In soups, stews and tomato sauces, and in shellfish boils. Remove leaf before serving
BLACK PEPPER		Pungent, somewhat hot	Dried, freshly ground	As condiment, in any dish you wish to make mildly hot
CARAWAY		Sweet, nutty	Whole	Hungarian goulash, cookies and cakes, apple sauce, herbal vinegars
CARDAMOM		Sweetly spicy	Whole or ground	Stews, curries. Use sparingly, as it has a strong taste.
CAYENNE PEPPER		Fiery hot	Dried and ground or fresh and finely chopped	Use sparingly -- it's very hot -- in anything you want to taste hot. Great in chili.
CELERY SEED		Strong, pungent celery flavor	Dried whole seed	As a replacement for celery stalks in cooking; flavoring in tomato juice, sauces and soups
CHERVIL		Light, similar to parsley	Fresh or frozen	Flavoring in soups, casseroles, salads, and in omelettes.
CHILE POWDER		Spicy, hot (heat depends on variety of chili pepper used)	Ground	In chili or other spicy dishes
CHIVES		Sharp, onion or garlic flavor	Fresh; frozen if fresh not available	Garnish, blended with soft cheeses, added to salads
CILANTRO		Spicy, sweet or hot	Fresh	In Middle Eastern, southeast Asian, Thai, Latin American and Spanish cuisines; salsas.
CINNAMON		Pungently sweet	As dried sticks or ground powder	In sweet dishes or in curries and stews
CLOVES		Sweet or bittersweet	Dried and ground	Add to sweet dishes or as a contrast in stews and curries.
CORIANDER		Spicy, sweet or hot	Ground or whole	In cakes, cookies, breads, as a pickling spice or in curry mixtures
CUMIN		Peppery	Whole or ground	Soups, stews, sauces. Use sparingly.
CURRY POWDER		Hot	Sparingly -- taste the dish in which you're using to gauge heat level	Curries
DILL		Mild, somewhat sour	Leaves best fresh; seeds used whole	Fish, eggs, potatoes, meats, breads, salads, sauces; dill seed used to make dill-flavored vinegar.
FENNEL		Like anise, but sweeter and lighter	Raw or cooked	In salads (raw), in soups or stews (cooked)
FENUGREEK		Sweet, somewhat like burnt honey	Whole or ground seed	In pastries, as a flavoring for meat dishes and beverages, and to make syrups
GARLIC		Pungent, onion-like, mildly hot to very hot	Fresh; granulated acceptable substitute	Roasted, or flavoring for pasta sauces, pork roasts, herb butter, stuffing, and marinades
GINGER		Mix of pepper and sweetness	Dried powder or freshly grated from root	Cakes, breads, cookies, as well as Asian dishes
GREEN PEPPERCORNS		Mild, slightly sweet	Preserved in brine or water-packed	In herbal vinegars, in sauces
HORSERADISH		Very sharp, similar to mustard	Fresh or jarred	As condiment, or to flavor fish, beef, sausages, and potato salads
MACE		Similar to nutmeg, but stronger	Dried or ground	Custards, spice cakes, fruit desserts
MARJORAM		Delicate	Fresh or dried	Soups, stews, marinades. Add at end of cooking to conserve flavor
MINT		Various -- there are more than 30 species of mint	Fresh	In salads, with vegetables
MUSTARD, BROWN		Pungent, biting, hotter than yellow mustard	Whole seed	In pickling, as a seasoning, or in preparing Oriental mustard sauces
MUSTARD, YELLOW		Hot, tangy, less of a bite than brown mustard	Powdered or whole seeds	Whole seeds may be used boiled with cabbage, or as a garnish for salads.
NUTMEG		Warm, spicy, sweet	Freshly ground	In cakes and cookies, in sweet potatoes
OREGANO		Similar to marjoram, but not as sweet	Fresh or dried	In Italian dishes, in chili, with vegetables, soups
PAPRIKA		Sweet to hot, somewhat bitter	Dried and ground	In Hungarian dishes including goulash, in soups, in potato or egg salad
PARSLEY		Mildly peppery	Fresh; dried a very poor substitute	As a garnish, in sauces, soups and salads
POPPY SEED		Nutty	Dried, whole	In muffins and cakes, salad dressings.
ROSEMARY		Very aromatic, faintly lemony and piney	Fresh or dried	In meat (especially lamb) or fish dishes and sauces
SAFFRON		Pungent, aromatic	Dried	Flavoring and coloring in rice, stews, curries and fish. This is the world's most expensive spice
SAGE		Musty, slightly bitter	Fresh or dried	Beef, fish dishes, stews, stuffings; common sausage flavoring
SESAME SEED		Nutty	Whole	In breads and cookies, in salad dressings, Asian preparations.
STAR ANISE		Very similar to anise	Whole	In herbal tea mixtures, in chicken or casserole dishes, or use as you would anise
TARRAGON		Anise-like	Fresh or frozen. Russian tarragon is not considered of culinary value.	In tartar sauce, as flavoring for cream sauces, in egg dishes and seafood salads
THYME		Minty, lemony	Fresh or dried	In omelettes, stews, bland soups, and stuffing for chicken, or as flavoring for green salads and cooked vegetables
TURMERIC		Pungent, somewhat bitter	Dried and ground	Curries, East Indian recipes. This is also the primary ingredient in American-style ("ballpark") mustard.
VANILLA		Sweet, highly aromatic	Remove seeds from whole, dried beans; or, in extract	With coffee, in desserts including ice cream, puddings and cakes
WHITE PEPPER		Similar to black peppercorn, but milder	Freshly ground	As a condiment