SC - potatoes

[Stefan li Rous]

needlwitch at msn.com wrote:
> 
> I was always under the impression that drying concentrated the essential
> oils in spices and herbs. This is why the "triple it if you you use fresh
> rule" is used, right?

In theory, yes, but the flavor does change. My feeling is that you triple it
for fresh because, well, because you can. Fresh herbs are considerably more
forgiving than dried in the area of bitter flavors that can come forward in
the drying process. For example, using too much dried sage can make a dish
disastrously bitter, while too much fresh just makes the dish taste more like
sage than perhaps it should.

Probably it's a semantics thing, but I tend to see fresh herbs not as weaker
versions of dried herbs, but dried herbs as lighter versions of their
equivalent in fresh form. I mean, three bay leaves is still three bay leaves,
you don't use one dried versus three fresh, do you? Let's just say that the
rule you mention is better applicable for some herbs than for others, and
leave it at that.

In the case of sorrel, which is pretty moist stuff, and also flavored not by
an essential oil, but by a water-soluble acid, I feel drying would tend to
reduce the acid content, and therefore the flavor. On the other hand, I'm
speculating here, never having dried sorrel. 

Adamantius
Østgardr, East
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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