Nogol
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What Can I Do With an Abundance of Sage?

Anybody know a quick and easy way to use up the huge amounts of sage in my garden? I don't like it for eats, so I was wondering if anybody knew what else to do with it? I think it smells amazing, so I was thinking essential oils....any other ideas (and recipes with those ideas)? Muchas Gracias!

Chowmom
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Yeah, I'm not overly fond of sage in my food either. I maintain one plant to dry the leaves for all those fall/Thanksgiving recipes, but that's it.

If you like the scent, dry the leaves and use them as sachets in your drawers. I've also heard that people burn the dried bundles. Sage is supposed to have some medicinal properties when used as a smudge. But you'll probably want to google that as I can't speak to it with any authority!

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applestar
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How about drying them, supplement with other ingredients for turkey/poultry seasoning and giving them away at Thanksgiving? Maybe in muslin herb bags tied with a seasonal ribbon and a tag, if you want to get fancy, or small zipper-closed bag labeled with printer printed labels or just decorated with bunch of seasonal stickers... :wink:

Nogol
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I'm liking all those ideas guys, awesome!

Snippy
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A friend of mine does burn the bundles because she likes the smell. Just recently, I've been looking into infusing fresh herbs in oils for cooking. I haven't tried it yet but homecooking.about.com had a section on a recipe for Herb or Spice Infused Oil.
I intend to do that for Christmas gifts this year. They do have herb suggestions but sage is not among them. It's worth a try.
Have fun! :D

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sid
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hiya something that you can do with sage is infuse it and the liquid makes an excellent hair conditioner for dark hair makeing it shine. Simlpy put 2oz of dried sage in a pot/saucepan and pour 1pt of boliing water over it leaving for 2hrs then drain and hey presto hair conditioner .Adding the same amount of rosemary with the sage is another good one! :D

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Sage Hermit
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Make a wreath.

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sid
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Hiya roger one thing you can do if you have lots of sage is make a hair conditioner :) You will need 4oz of sage ,place in a sauspan and pour 1pt of boiling water over it , cover and leave to infuse for 2hr's ,drain and store in a bottle .It will keep for about a 1mth in the fridge. I like to mix it with rosemary, half/half, as it is great for dark hair and helps add shine.You could also mix it with buxus as this is a hair strimulant half/half again.Give it a try and see what u thinks
regars sid :lol:

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rainbowgardener
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Sage is a good healing herb. It's scientific name is salvia officianalis. Salvia comes from the Latin salvere meaning "to heal" or "to be safe and unharmed" (from which we get our word salvation). The officianalis means it was part of the "official" medical pharmacoepia, which was still in use in the 1800's. As an infusion (tea) it is used especially for colds, sore throats, respiratory infections. You can make a nice soothing tea blend of sage, mint, and lemon balm all of which have healing properties for colds and which tastes better than the sage alone. Add honey which is also soothing and it's very nice. The sage oil is antiseptic and astringent. And making essential oils uses up a ton of sage leaves!

Also "In an exciting new study done in 2003, English scientists at Newcastle and Northumbria found that Sage oil extracts in capsule form produced markedly improved memory function in test subjects, and it is very possible that Sage may protect a key chemical destroyed in the brain by Alzheimer's disease. Better yet, no side effects whatsoever were reported by participants. Although studies are not complete at this time, this is very promising research and should be followed by anyone who has or is caring for someone with Alzheimer's"
www.gardensablaze.com/HerbSageMed.htm

The Helpful Gardener
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And it makes a nice ossobucco too...

MIL uses it for smudge sticks, which are an old Amerind purification tool if you are into that sort of thing, but we know it helps keep away bugs...

We stuff the turkey with it every year...(as politically correct kitchens are no longer stuffing the bird with stuffing :x ) sage and apples, sage and citrus...who needs Bell's Seasonings? Not me!

HG

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Gary350
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I know a lady that has bags of herbs hanging on the walls in her house. It smells very nice. I once had a very large quantity of sage on a shelf it made the whole house smell pretty good. I tried this with Basil one year it smells good too. Herbs loose their smell after about 2 years.

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jal_ut
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Sage is good in dressing, and sausage. Also good for poultry and fish seasoning. Put a little in your breading mix. You can dry a little for use later. Beyond that just let it bloom for the bees. They will love you. No use worrying about using it all, just not worth it.



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