Guide to herbs

(and other commonly called for ingredients)

Vanilla Extract:

Called for in what seems like every baking recipe, pure vanilla extract is made from vanilla beans and alcohol. It has a delicious fragrance, but is anything but delicious to taste by itself, owing to all the alcohol. When mixed with other ingredients, however, vanilla extract lends a sweet, vanilla flavor, truer to its scent. Be careful to always buy pure vanilla extract, though, and not imitation—nothing beats the real thing. If you’re out of it, don’t try to substitute another type of extract (like almond or lemon), because each one has a different strength and its own distinct flavor.

Rosemary:

Whether dried or fresh, rosemary has a pine-needle-like shape to it and is very fragrant. It tends to be used in Mediterranean dishes, as well as traditional French dishes. It is incredibly versatile and can be used to flavor just about anything, from soups and salad dressings to meat and potatoes. It's also very easy to grow in your herb garden, as it's a pretty hardy herb.  Rosemary is high in iron, calcium, and Vitamin B6.

Bay Leaf:

What does a bay leaf do? Why use this herb? Bay leaves have a similar flavor to oregano and thyme, and they are often used in slow simmering soups and sauces as whole leaves, though it is possible to have crushed bay leaf as well. I think of them of having a very “mellowing” effect, especially with tomato-based recipes, meaning that they just help all the other flavors balance each other. Most recipes call for bay leaves to be removed before serving, which has led to the myth that they’re poisonous (other leaves of the Laurel plant family are, but those aren’t sold for cooking), when in fact they’re just bitter and don’t really soften when cooked.