Time to Prepare our Herbes Salees

Green onion is common in recipes and provides a nice flavor

The peak of Summer means that backyard gardens and farmers markets are at the height of production. This gives us a great opportunity to begin preparing a seasoning mixture for use in both modern and heritage dishes. Herbes salees are a traditional Quebec flavoring method that is still in use today. They’re easy to prepare, and provide a unique flavor well into the Winter Months.  

Herbes salees (salted herbs) go back to the days of New France* when settlers used salt as a way to preserve the harvest. A salty, herbal mixture gave pea soup, as well as stews and tourtieres, a distinct flavor. Today, herbes salees are in use throughout the province as an ingredient as well as a condiment. 

In addition to the flavor, there are many beauties to herbes salees: they’re simple to make, there’s no wrong recipe and, when combined with refrigeration, they can keep for longer periods of time than our ancestors enjoyed. 

To make; coarsely chop fresh herbs (as well as some vegetables) and layer the mixture with coarse salt in a jar or non-reactive container. Pack the mixture tightly, cover, and leave in the refrigerator for 2+ weeks while the salt creates a brine. The brine will keep the contents of the container fresh for several months. With today’s refrigeration, herbes salees can be kept for as long as a year, although that length of time is generally not recommended.

Just chop, mix and layers in a jar with coarse salt and we're on the way

While there’s no correct recipe, most will include parsley, savory, celery leaves and minced carrot along with other herbs. As with most recipes, getting hung up on specifics isn’t necessary. First, our ancestors were preserving whatever herbs they had. Second, it’s about personal preference.

The only words of caution are that periodically draining the brine will be necessary, and a little bit will go a long way. Most recipes will call for a tablespoon or two.

With that, it’s time to have some fun. We love our heritage recipes. This is an easy one, and can add so much to the others. We can spend some time searching for recipes, but washing a mason jar, a trip to the garden or farmers market and a few minutes of chopping  is all it takes to have us enjoying our flavors this Winter.  

A freshly packed jar is headed to the fridge to brine.

*references have been made to Quebec, but herbes salees were & are common in Acadian cooking as well.