Spices and fresh in same recipe

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karmann

Assistant Cook
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Oct 16, 2019
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Why do some recipes call for both dried spices and fresh leaves of the same thing in a recipe? If you're using fresh, why not just make it all that? In this particular case, I'm talking about a recipe calling for sage leaves and dried sage.
 
In many cases, dried herbs taste very different from fresh ones, and you need to use less dried than fresh to get a similar intensity of flavor. Dried and fresh sage don't taste much different, though, so I can't explain that one.

What is the recipe?
 
Heirloom black and red rice with pumpkin seeds and sage. For the slow cooker.
 
I have never seen a recipe calling for both, but I can see how somebody might do that with sage. Sage is an herb that definitely tastes different when dried, but it is still good, and many think it's better for some things. Sage has two major flavor components, and when dried, one is reduced greatly, since it is much more volatile, while the majority of the other one remains, to flavor sausage, and the like, which seem to taste better with freshly dried sage. However, those pasta dishes I've made with fresh sage, wouldn't have tasted the same with dried. Maybe that recipe was something where somebody wanted more of that dried sage flavor, in addition to the fresh.
 
The fresh and dried sage have two different flavours. The fresh sage is much stronger in flavour and the dried herbs are concentrated.

In this particular recipe maybe you are required to cook the dried herb to get the flavour in the food and then put the fresh herb at the end of the cooking time.
 
I use the same dry and fresh herbs in the same recipe often. Dried herbs give a nice flavor punch. Fresh are more delicate. For example I like to use dry and fresh oregano.
 
I have never seen a recipe calling for both, but I can see how somebody might do that with sage. Sage is an herb that definitely tastes different when dried, but it is still good, and many think it's better for some things. Sage has two major flavor components, and when dried, one is reduced greatly, since it is much more volatile, while the majority of the other one remains, to flavor sausage, and the like, which seem to taste better with freshly dried sage. However, those pasta dishes I've made with fresh sage, wouldn't have tasted the same with dried. Maybe that recipe was something where somebody wanted more of that dried sage flavor, in addition to the fresh.

Interesting. I don't find that in sage at all. To me, fresh and dried taste pretty similar. Fresh and dried parsley or basil, though, are quite different.
 
Interesting. I don't find that in sage at all. To me, fresh and dried taste pretty similar. Fresh and dried parsley or basil, though, are quite different.

+1 on the parsley and basil.
 
I don't even know why dried parsley or basil are used any more! I still can't believe it when I see them called for in recipes.

Oregano is an herb that I think tastes better dried - the fresh doesn't seem to have any better flavors, IMO, like tarragon, basils, and rosemary do. I see recipes frequently calling for fresh oregano, but it did not impress me when I grew it. Thyme seems pretty much the same fresh or dried - I use fresh when I just put some sprigs in something, and remove them later, but in most things I use dried. It's a PITA to remove those tiny leaves, to use fresh, but after drying, the leaves break off the stems easily.
 
I have a recipe for an herbed flour to dredge fish in that includes dried basil. It does have its own flavor, although of course, it's nothing like fresh. I agree with the rest of what you said.
 
Thyme. Basil, oregno, and sage are all members of the mint family
The fresh hers have the flavors we typically assosiate with each jerb, plus a liitle minr hangong ou in the background. This is especially true of basil

The dried product does not have the mint taste..

As ro which one has the stronger flavor, it fepends pn which herb is being used. For instance, dried oregano is stronger in flavor than is gresh
Cilantro leabes lose almost all flavor when dried. Fresh cilantro is a very potent herb


So, the author of whatever recipe you are reading is creating spmethon that has a particulr flavor profile, amd may need both frsh and dried to get it


Seeeeya; Chief Lomgwind of the North
 
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