When you have a large crop of verbena from the garden or farmstand, you don't have time to casually include it in complicated recipes or to frantically figure out how to use it up before it goes bad without getting sick of it. You want to make the most of your harvest and to actually enjoy it.
Here at Plant to Plate, we like to keep things simple! Here are some of my favorite ways to use or preserve verbena, also known as vervain. Note that this is different from lemon verbena, which we will discuss in a future article.
- Make an herbal honey. An herbal honey is a delicious way to preserve the herbal properties of your verbena, extend its shelf life, and get benefits of honey too.
- Make herbal candy.
- Make an herbal syrup. Verbena syrup is a great addition to coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Check out our article on how to make an herbal syrup here.
- Make infused vinegar. Verbena-infused vinegar makes a good salad dressing or dressing base. Infuse verbena in vinegar on its own or along with other herbs such as lemon balm, garlic, and/or dill.
- Make infused oil. Verbena-infused oil can be used as a salad dressing base or a drizzle. It can also be processed further into other herbal preparations such as balms.
- Make a tea. Verbena tea is best prepared as an infusion.
- Add it to a tea blend. Verbena works well in tea blends with herbs with similar actions such as rose petals, spearmint, tulsi, and/or feverfew.
- Make a tincture. An herb:solvent weight ratio of 1:5 at 40% alcohol is suggested for a verbena tincture.
- Dry it to preserve it for later use. See our How to Dry Your Herbs articles here for more information.
- Chop and freeze it as an alternate preservation method.
- Make herbal ice cubes to add to future beverages. Learn how to make herbal ice cubes in our Freezing Overview article here.
Further Reading
Growing verbena? Check out these quick facts like its best growing conditions, companion plants, and expected yields.
Verbena is also featured in these articles: