Growing Herbs for Seed

Herbs add healthy, natural flavour to our food - with no fat! Most often it's the leaves that are used in cooking, but some herbs are grown for their tasty seeds. Harvesting the seed for cooking is easy, and when stored properly it keeps indefinitely. Look in mail-order catalogues or at local garden centres for seed to grow these annual herbs.

Coriander (Coriandrum sativum): The plant is known as cilantro, and its parsley-type leaves are used in Mexican and Asian cooking. The seeds are called coriander and are used in curries and some meat dishes. This is a frost-tolerant plant and it's slow to bolt. It grows easily from seed sown spring through summer.

Dill (Anethum graveolens): Both leaves and seeds are used to flavour dips and dressings, pickles and fish dishes. When sowing, look for varieties that mature to large seedheads, such as Long Island Mammoth or Duket.

Anise (Pimpinella anisum): Anise seed is used in baking breads, cookies and pastries. Its licorice taste is also welcome in meatloaf, tomato sauce and beef stew. A tea of anise seed is said to relieve upset stomachs. It does require a long hot summer to produce seed, so start it early and site it in the hottest part of the garden.

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