Pineapple Sage on Chicken?
Answered by: Conrad Richter
Question from: Tina
Posted on: April 28, 2004

For the first time I bought some fresh herbs. I was wondering if I could let them grow in the container they came in or do I have to plant them outside. (Is this a dumb question?)

Your question is not dumb at all. There are two main points to consider. One, in order for the herbs to grow to a good size so that you can harvest lots of fresh leaves, the plants will need more room to grow. If they stay in the pots they came in (usually a three or four inch pot) they will soon get rootbound if they are not already and growth will slow. Potting up to a larger pot will alleviate the problem for a while, but generally herbs will do better in the garden where they can spread their roots more widely.

The second point is light. If you are leaving the plants in pots, you are likely putting the plants in spot where the light may not be a bright as in the garden. Quite simply, for the common culinary herbs such as basil, rosemary and sage, the more light they get, the more they will grow.

And also I bought some pineapple sage; how would I use this on chicken? Grind it up or just place leaves on the chicken? These might be crazy questions but this is my first time. I buy the herbs in the jars but they just don’t have the flavor.

Pineapple sage is very different from regular garden sage (Salvia officinalis). Regular sage can be used both fresh and dried. Pineapple sage is used fresh only because the scent and subtle flavour disappear completely on drying.

Generally herbs with evanescent aromas and flavours are best added in fresh form in the last minutes of cooking. Because the leaves of pineapple sage can get quite large, you should chop the leaves into small pieces before adding. You may need to experiment with different sizes of the chopped pieces, different times when to add, and different amounts of fresh leaves. The result will always be subtle and you will need to balance the amount, size, and timing to get the best effect.

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