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Salad Burnet (Poterium sanguisorba)
 In February many long for a toasted cucumber and tomato sandwich or sliced
cucumbers with a meal. For some it is a longing they can't give in to because
cucumbers bother their digestion. Salad burnet is a little known herb
whose leaves have a distinctive cucumber taste and won't cause indigestion! If
plants are brought inside in the fall we could have that great cucumber taste
all winter.
I have been introducing this herb in herb growing courses and everyone has
been intrigued by it. A short-lived perennial to zone 4, salad burnet has had
medicinal uses for 2000 years but is mainly grown for culinary purposes
now.
The plant grows to a height of one foot with deep-green serrated leaves,
often with reddish stems. The flower is purplish-red in a nut-like formation and
can be used the same as the leaves. Seeds can be started indoors 4-6 weeks
before the last frost .
Cover the pot with paper to keep the darkness. Sow thickly to have a good
clump to transplant outside after the frost deadline. Mature plants have a long
taproot and resent transplanting so move plants while they are small. They
self-seed readily. Watch for little clusters of bright green leaves close to the
mature plants in the early spring and transplant them when they are a few inches
high. Set plants 12-18 inches apart.
Like most herbs, salad burnet likes the sun and well drained soil. Pick the
young leaves before the flowers open to snip into a salad for a nutty cucumber
flavour. Lay a few leaves on tomatoes in a sandwich. Salad burnet leaves will
flavour cream cheese, soup, sour cream dips, vinegars - anywhere you want a
cucumber flavour. Let some plants go to flower and use in the same way. The
blooming plants also make a nice display in the herb garden. The leaves of salad
burnet lose some flavour when dried so enjoy them while they are fresh.
Seeds and plants will be available from Tansy Lane Herb Farm at the Farmers'
Market on Barker St. and at our Tansy Shop, 490 Albert Mines Rd. opening for the
season on May 22.
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