What's the best way to keep herbs?

What's the best way to keep herbs, if not using in one go, such as coriander, basil, chives? C. Valvo

Pesto is not only a lovely sauce but also a great way of capturing the essence of late summer basil. In pesto alla Genovese, the essential oils of the basil meld with the olive oil. The allicin in the garlic plus the salt in the cheese help retard the growth of microbes, as does the resin in the pine nuts. Soft-leaved aromatic herbs can be blitzed with some olive oil and stored in a jar in the fridge or in the freezer. Harder-leafed herbs such as rosemary can be plucked from the stem and dried on kitchen paper or hung in bunches in a dry, airy place. If you want to keep herbs fresh for a week or so, wrap them in a small, damp dishcloth, cover tightly in plastic wrap and keep in the fridge for a week or so.

Why do cooks put dill in pickled cucumbers? S. Morley

As a young man I hung around with others in a pack, reeking of a heady mix of romantic desperation and stale Brut 33. We would spend Friday nights at a popular drinking hole listening to covers of Australian Crawl songs and finish at McDonald's. There, one of the lads always insisted the poor staff remove the pickles from his burger. He hated dill pickles. Picklers, however, love them. Dill seeds contain compounds that can retard microbial growth. There is a myth that in days gone by, cooks would put spices on food to mask that it had gone off. Spices today are still relatively expensive but in the days prior to mass transport they were literally worth their weight in gold. I contend that spices were, instead, used to help preserve food. The compound thymol in thyme and oregano helps increase microbiological stability in food, as does eugenol, found in allspice, cloves and cinnamon. Cinnamon itself is a source of cinnamic aldehyde, as is its cousin cassia. The fact we find plants that help preserve food desirable speaks volumes about the way our appreciation of different flavours has evolved and changed over millennia.

Why are condemned prisoners offered special last meals? V. Rodriguez

The existential torment of considering one's demise can be ameliorated by concentrating on a point in time prior to the execution. In other words, last meals are the ultimate comfort food. In Texas, prisoners facing lethal injection have often requested simple food such as grits, crisp bacon and eggs cooked in a manner they experienced when they were children. Ice-cream, often associated with childhood holidays, features heavily on the final meal request, with Jeffrey Doughtie, executed in 2001, asking for vanilla Blue Bell ice-cream. The 18^th century French writer Grimod de la Reyniere noted that during the French Revolution, French aristocracy would trade valuable family heirlooms with restaurateurs for their perfect last meal.

My rosemary bush is covered in flowers. Is it still suitable to cook with? C. Fenech.

Yes. The flowers of almost all comestible herbs are edible. Rosemary flowers are edible and rather attractive, particularly when used to decorate a finished dish, albeit slightly fiddly to remove from the stem. They do wilt and fall from the sprig when used in cooking so if you don't want them populating the sauce of a stew, perhaps consider wrapping them muslin in a bouquet garni.

Letters

Who could have thought potato salad could polarise so many readers? Many of you found the very idea that a potato salad could be made with soft-boiled potatoes abhorrent. "There is nothing worse than a cluggy potato salad," wrote V. Morgan. "In hot, warm weather it is even less appealing." "I like my potato salad crisp, lightly dressed in Praise mayonnaise and sprinkled with mint," added L. Caruthers. "I have fond memories of Ooma making warm potato salad with onions and pepper with potatoes so well cooked that the outside of them made a kind of rich sauce when mixed with the salt and vinegar." Thanks to P. Matzner for that recollection.

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