Fresh vs. Dried Herbs | Herbed Polenta Showdown

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Learning about the uses of herbs have come as a slow integration of the cooking experience. However, I cannot say that I have fully experienced the eye-opening opportunity of tasting several herbs individually, both dried and fresh in order to contemplate their impact on the flavors of our dishes. So, today's lab was a great experiment! I highly recommend anyone who wants to punch up their meals in a healthy way to open your spice drawer and pick up their fresh counterparts to do a little side by side comparison... these are my findings:

Ingredient	Appearance	Flavor	Texture	Aroma
Dried Herb
Rosemary	Small, stick-like, light green	Bitter	Stiff, sharp ends, not as easily crumbled	Woody, clean
Italian (Flat leaf) Parsley	Papery, darker green, lightweight	Mellow, with high notes towards the end	Crisp, lightweight, thin, crumbly	Earthy
Thyme	Fine, small whole leaves, light green-to-yellow	Bitter and soapy, very astringent towards the end	Light, stiff, crumbly	pungent
Sage	Ground fine, powder, green with a touch of grey color	Musky, deep	Powdery	Slight mustard smell
Fresh Herb
Rosemary	Long, evergreen type leaves,	Slightly bitter, with a little pepper taste, a fresh citrus-like note	Firm, shiny leaves with a thick stem	Bright aroma, similar to citrus
Italian (Flat leaf) Parsley	Light, airy leaves, flexible stems	Somewhat bitter, when bitten into, sharp flavor	Lightweight, easily chewed thin leaves	Very little smell
Thyme	Petite green leaves on stiff stick-like stem	Sharp, peppery	Crispy	Fragrant, sharp
Sage	Soft leaves, green with fuzzy surface	Astringent, pungent, like the pith of a citrus fruit	Soft, pliable leaves with a velvety texture	High notes of freshness
Spice
Ground cloves	Dark brown, powder	Deep, spicy, with pepper flavor towards the end	Powdery	Rich, full, spicy

Putting it to the test...

To make things more interesting, we were asked to prepare a recipe containing herbs two ways: one with fresh herbs and one with dried herbs. I found this recipe at the American Institute for Cancer Research. The original recipe calls to be served with grilled portobello mushrooms, but because my focus was on the herbs, I omitted them.

Herbed Polenta

Ingredients: 2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil 1 cup non-instant polenta or cornmeal 4 cups boiling water 1 small garlic clove, minced 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley (or 2 Tbsp dried) 1 tsp. crumbled fresh thyme leaves, or 1/4 tsp. dried 1 tsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary, or 1/4tsp. dried Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 1/4 cup (1 oz.) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese Canola oil spray

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In deep, heavy pot, combine oil and polenta. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until polenta smells toasty, about 2 minutes. Remove pot from heat. Add boiling water carefully to avoid spatters. Stir until polenta is smooth. Mix in garlic, parsley, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper. Bake polenta, uncovered 20 minutes. Stir well. Bake additional 20 minutes, or until polenta is creamy. Divide among 4 dinner plates. Sprinkle each with a quarter of the cheese. Here is the Tasha review:  During the herb analysis, I determined that the flavor of the dried thyme leaves were very bitter and somewhat soapy tasting, but the fresh version was crisp and peppery. As I suspected, when the dishes were complete, the polenta with the dried herbs had a stronger, more bitter flavor than the polenta with the fresh herbs. The polenta with the fresh herbs smelled brighter, with high notes from the fresh herbs, while the polenta with the dried herbs had a more deep, earthy aroma. Visually, the polenta with the fresh herbs had more of a “garden fresh” look because of the brighter green herbs, which made it more appealing.  All of this makes me very happy that I have recently expanded my herb garden and hope to gain much more experience in introducing fresh herbs to our happy, healthy plates....

Green is the new black...

xoxo