Sage infused Sugar/Salt

 So at the Sage class I attended, I was recommended to trim my sage to make it more bushier.  I had blooms and a few leaves that got trimmed off of my Cleveland Allen Chickering Sage and hummingbird sage.  The hummingbird sage was infused in the sugar and the Allen Chickering sage is going to infuse salt.

I thought back to my culinary school days and we would infuse sugar (and salt) jars with vanilla, citrus rinds, or dried out herbs.  With the strong, sweet smell of hummingbird sage, I decided to infuse it with date sugar.  Date sugar is a whole food so it isn’t processed like sugar cane sugar.  It has a strong date smell and I think the hummingbird sage’s ripe pineapple string tropical smells will complement the date sugar.  You can use any sugar (or salt) you have.  If you don’t want to do a whole container you can do a small 2oz amount of sugar/salt and shake and taste it every few days to see if flavors infused.  If I like how it smells and tastes, I leave it in there and just add more sugar to container as needed. Once I notice the smell and flavor no longer permeate, then I discard the sage blooms and leaves.

Recipe:

16oz jar (or size large enough to fit sugar/salt

8oz of any type of sugar or salt

A few leaves and blooms of dried sage or herb you’d like to use

In jar, place sugar and leaves and blooms. Close container and shake well. Label it with name of herb, sugar type and date. Ready to use.

Tips: 

-I sprinkle sugar on fruit, oatmeal, tea, and coffee.

-You can store in for a few days and use it with more of same herb to make icecream or sorbets.

I don’t wait for a particular date for flavors to mingle. I start using it as I need sugar. But I did notice the flavor intensity after a week or so.

Tasting Fried hummingbird Sage

 

Before I can taste Hummingbird Sage (also known as Pitcher Sage- not sure if it’s also Baja Pitcher Sage), I need to grow it.  I’ve seen several videos and read a few articles about how delicious these leaves taste fried (see resources below).  Now that it’s growing and thriving in my garden, I’m ready to give this recipe a try.

Get a few leaves, wash n dry (pat well to get any water droplets off), in a small omelet fry pan and enough oil to cover the bottom of pan and heat (med).  Once oil is hot, carefully add a sage leaf. Within 20 seconds it should crisp, flip over and fry the other side. Place leaf on a paper towel and continue with the rest of the leaves.  I recommend doing 1-3 at a time until you get the hang of it as it fries up very quickly. 

The leaf is a great garnish.  Place crispy leaf over mashed potatoes or over a seared salmon serving. It can also be served over pancakes. Get fancy with your bread slices: toast bread, spread some butter and place a leaf on top. 

Hummingbird Sage has a little different leaf color from other sages- these leaves are green. Other sages have grey leaves.  

Below is a photo of hummingbird sage leaf (left) and white sage leaves (right). Both have square stem and tiny scallops along the whole leaf. Aroma: hummingbird sage has a tropical sweet pineapple smell.  White sage has a strong earthy smell.

Other leaves that can be fried: cleavland sage (maybe white sage- although I haven’t tasted it- the smell is strong- not sure if the taste would be strong). Since they are part of the mint family, maybe fry up some mints like Yerba Buena, and coyote mint.

Resource: 

https://blog.revfad.com/2024/11/03/fried-hummingbird-sage/

https://youtu.be/Cfb9l2xDUa4?si=fnUO9mupB5uc7cr1