My Sage Saga

 I attended a native ca cooking demo at Artemisia garden nursery.  

Antonio Sanchez gave us some amazing treats to try: sage pesto, sage ice cream, and a simple syrup sage used to sweeten lemonade.

So after I came home with another sage plant- I decided to share photos of all the different sages I have and their uses:

Above is my common garden culinary sage. This one I bought a few years ago at a big box store.  It’s the famous herb used during thanksgiving and fall flavors. When recipes call for sage- most likely it’s referring to this one.  In an omelette or small sauté pan, I melt butter and add in a few leaves (3-5 depending how fragrant and small they are), cook until butter is golden brown.  I cut leaves with kitchen scissors into small pieces and add it to my stuffing/dressing.  Butter can also be added to stuffing, mashed potatoes, or used to baste turkey.  Maybe this year, I’ll try it with some Cleveland hybrid sage.

Above is my 1st native or 2nd garden sage: Salvia Blanca- I bought it to dry its leaves and use for smudges.  I heard Antonio and Abe Sanchez mention that this plant is for medicinal and not so much for culinary purposes.  But one of my friends in Baja said that one of her friends cooks with it.  I also went to a coffee shop in VdG (Valle de Guadalupe, Ensenada Baja Ca) that had simple syrup infused with white sage and the flavor while strong, complemented the coffee.  

The above photo Sage 3: hummingbird bird sage has an amazingly sweet fragrant smell- ripe pineapple/tropical.  I had one plant in January 2026 when I purchased it and in just 5 months there are 3 plants in the pot.  One of the plants has a beautiful flower with 3 pompom flowers spaced on one stem. As recommended by Antonio Sanchez, I cut the bloom off to promote plant growth.  I think this one will make an amazing ice cream, simple syrup, and I enjoy sipping it as a sun tea. There was an online recipe to fry these leaves- I tried doing it and it’s in previous old post.  Its leaves are sticky like white sage, but the leaves are more green and have scallop edges.

After seeing Eat California and another video, both mentioned cooking with Allen Chickering sage.  It has a strong perfume smell- it’s a hybrid between purple sage and a Cleveland Sage. I mentioned to Antonio Sanchez that my plant was leggy and not bushy- he recommended I cut it back and fertilize it.  In the freeze wild video they mentioned Cleveland sage would make a great ice cream flavor. This one resembles the leaves of a rosemary (oil/sticky leaves) and a lavender (fuzzy/fragrant).  Almost any recipe that calls for lavender can be substituted for this plant.

My newbie in late April: early May is this Baja Pitcher Sage.  It looks and smells a lot like my hummingbird sage and I even had to look up to see if they were the same plant.  It also has a sweet smell. 

As of late May 2026, this Salvia Pozo Blue (grey musk sage) is the newest family member.  It’s a Cleveland Sage hybrid.  I couldn’t resist buying a sage on the day of the demo class when they had a discount! 

I have infused herbs in cream based ice creams before- I recommend placing the herb into the milk the night before (cover and chill in fridge) overnight and then bring to a simmer.  Maybe in fall, when all my Sages are big, I’ll do a Sage ice cream tasting.  Same ice cream base can make a crème brûlée, panna cotta, and flan. Cream base can also be made into whip cream, 

For simple syrup- I rub leaves in sugar, so sugar can be infused with the herb.  I also simmer water with the herb like making a tea (strain). Then I add equal parts of herbal tea water with the infused sugar and return to heat until sugar dissolves.  Simple syrup can be frozen to make a sorbet, it can be drizzled on fruit, used to flavor coffee, tea or lemonades.

Further down my older posts, there is information on frying hummingbird sage. Maybe now that I have different sages, I can try frying the different ones to see how they come out.

Liz Savory Seasoning Mix:

Resources:

Artemisia Garden Nursery 

https://artemisianursery.com/

Freeze Wild:

https://youtu.be/NbbvUx5yoyw?si=mAmR_D2A01SLXikA

Eating California! Video:

https://youtu.be/CNxiyJuvd8Y?si=n5kPJcu0JqO3RwrV