The reason I ask is that it is the PERMA-plant that will not die. Every other herb I planted last spring has long since given up the ghost and the sage is still GOING STRONG!
Need some crowdsourcing on this one! -Sherry
What say ye, Homies? How many different ways can Sherry use her bounty of sage?
I'm a 40-year-old potty-mouthed writer with late-diagnosed ADHD and a shit-ton of anxiety. I live in my hometown of Los Angeles with a husband, a daughter I never planned on having, and a senior rescue dog. Anything else you need to know can be gleaned from my instagram and my TikTok.
Comments on How many different ways can you use sage?
You can sub fresh herbs for dried in pretty much any recipe — just use about a tablespoon of fresh for every teaspoon of dried.
My favourite recipe involving sage is a butternut squash soup:
Peel, seed, and dice 2 medium butternut squash. Thinly slice 3 onions. Smash & peel 1 bulb garlic.
Heat 1/2 c. butter or oil in a soup pot. Sauté onion, garlic, and 2–3 leaves sage. When onions start to brown, add squash, and 8 c. water. Once squash is tender, add 1/2 can tomatoes. Mix well, cook until everything is mushy. Add 1 Tbsp. salt, and pepper to taste. Purée in batches. Serve with parmesan cheese and/or lime juice to taste.
Sage is an excellent ingredient for pasta (especially stuffed pasta like tortelloni or ravioli). Fry the chopped sage in melted butter for a minute or two then mix in with the pasta & add some grated parmesan. Sage is also lovely with lamb, such as a lamb kleftiko (recipes all over the web).
Sage is great for seasoning all kinds of chicken or turkey dishes. A classic fave where sage is the star is chicken saltimbuca – thinly pounded chicken breasts stuffed with prosciutto and whole sage leaves. It also makes a great ingredient in brown butter sauce, served with pumpkin or butternut squash ravioli.
More offbeat alternatives:
Smudge stick! Smells good and removes bad energy. Also keeps mosquitoes away, if you’re not witchy.
All of the things above, plus a combination of the first two: I love making pumpkin mac & cheese, with a little bit of sage to accent it. You can either muddle some sage in olive oil (and preferably let it sit for an hour or so to make a quick infused oil), and then strain the sage out and just use the oil [this is best if you are feeding more delicate palettes], or you can just cut the sage up finely and toss in with bread crumbs that you sprinkle on top of the mac & cheese.
Other favorite uses are baking it into bread or biscuits (if you’re inclined to bake – and, again, you can do chopped sage or use infused oil), or mixing finely chopped sage into fresh butter to spread on bread, potatoes, etc.
I made some great popcorn with sage a few months ago that I still think about. I used some sage my mother had dried.
Airpop or brown paper bag in the microwave pop some popcorn. Drizzle popcorn with olive oil or melted butter, crumple sage leaves between your fingers until very fine and sprinkle over the popcorn, maybe sprinkle a pinch of salt as well.
Got some fresh ginger as well? Make the Apollo cocktail! So delicious.
Apollo Cocktail:
1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger. sliced
7 fresh sage leaves
1.5 oz gin
1 egg white
0.75 oz simple syrup
0.5 oz lemon juice
Garnish: 1 dash Angostura bitters, fresh sage leaf
Muddle ginger and 7 sage leaves in mixing glass. Add remaining ingredients and shake without ice. Add ice and shake again. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Top with bitters and single sage leaf.
Deep-fried sage leaves =) This won’t use up that many leaves, but it makes a delicious garnish for pretty much any rich meat dish that you want to “fancy up”.
Also, herbal teas: I used to shred a large handful of sage leaves, stuff them into a pot with any other herbs I had on hand and steep in boiling water (with lid on) for 5 minutes. Seemed to work a treat whenever I felt slightly under the weather (but didn’t taste so good…)
Sage is a natural anti viral, anti-bacterial and anti fungal, so it’s a great herb to have laying around the house… It’s actually lovely as a savory, immune- boosting tea, either alone or with whatever other herbs you like. The Romans had a proverb- “Why die, when you have sage in the garden?”
Just a note though, it is also an anti coagulant, so not great for hemophiliacs or those on blood thinners. It will also dry up breast milk if taken in large quantities.
Not just hemophiliacs need to be wary of things with anti-coagulant properties. People with hypertension are often on blood thinners. That baby aspirin that many people take once a day for their hearts is also a blood thinner.
Sage & onion stuffing! ‘Tis the season & all that.
Stale chunks of bread, sage, sauteed onions mixed together in a bowl
Chicken/turkey or veg. stock poured all over to make it soggy
Maybe some salt & pepper in the mix.
Stir it all up, stuff in a bird, or in a squash, or just put in a tin.
Stick in an oven (~350?) for a while to think about what it’s done (time depends on what you’re cooking it in). If you’re roasting it in a bird or squash, just that cooking time is fine.
Sage is great with pork too. You can rub a pork tenderloin with minced sage, garlic, salt and pepper and roast with onions, apples, winter squashes, anything like that. For a quick meal I like to take thin cut pork chops, salt and pepper them, and press whole sage leaves on both sides. I pan-fry very quickly in hot olive oil or butter and serve. The leaves should stick to the chops, giving lots of flavor AND looking really pretty.
I make lemon sage butter pasta for a quick weeknight meal. Melt butter over low heat and add lots of sage leaves, but not more than would fit in a single layer. Add slices of lemon, or lemon juice and zest. You’ll have to take out the slices before serving. Simmer fir about ten minutes, careful not to let the butter burn, serve over any pasta and add parmesan.
Also, I drink it if I am feeling bloated before getting my period. It’s a diuretic so will suck the extra water out of you. Just make a tea out of it.
First: dry the leaves by hanging them in a dark corner of your house, preferably a drier area.
When I’m on top of my housecleaning (which isn’t often), I make a strong sage, peppermint and lavender “tea”, for a nice smelling antiviral/antibacterial/antifungal solution to spray on countertops, stove, bathroom after cleaning (sometimes I cheat and use essential oils). If there are any sick folks in the house, I will leave a pot of this mixture on the stove at the lowest possible setting to let it evaporate into the air.
Sometimes I gargle a strong sage tea when I’m sick, but be forewarned, that stuff is effective, but nasty.
It’s super easy to make “rubbed sage”. Just dry the leaves (there are lots of good methods for accomplishing this), then put them in a big wire mesh strainer and literally “rub” them through into a bowl below. The result is that soft stuff like what you buy in the spice aisle at the store.
I LOVE SAGE! I wish my plants were perma-plants… the climate is too cold for them. My favorite is sage-clover tea, with red-clover flowers–it’s great when you’re sick, or cold, or sad.
Posted by
You can sub fresh herbs for dried in pretty much any recipe — just use about a tablespoon of fresh for every teaspoon of dried.
My favourite recipe involving sage is a butternut squash soup:
Peel, seed, and dice 2 medium butternut squash. Thinly slice 3 onions. Smash & peel 1 bulb garlic.
Heat 1/2 c. butter or oil in a soup pot. Sauté onion, garlic, and 2–3 leaves sage. When onions start to brown, add squash, and 8 c. water. Once squash is tender, add 1/2 can tomatoes. Mix well, cook until everything is mushy. Add 1 Tbsp. salt, and pepper to taste. Purée in batches. Serve with parmesan cheese and/or lime juice to taste.
Sage is an excellent ingredient for pasta (especially stuffed pasta like tortelloni or ravioli). Fry the chopped sage in melted butter for a minute or two then mix in with the pasta & add some grated parmesan. Sage is also lovely with lamb, such as a lamb kleftiko (recipes all over the web).
Sage is great for seasoning all kinds of chicken or turkey dishes. A classic fave where sage is the star is chicken saltimbuca – thinly pounded chicken breasts stuffed with prosciutto and whole sage leaves. It also makes a great ingredient in brown butter sauce, served with pumpkin or butternut squash ravioli.
More offbeat alternatives:
Smudge stick! Smells good and removes bad energy. Also keeps mosquitoes away, if you’re not witchy.
Herbaceous cocktail time! The Bomb Collins is one of my faves. http://theboysclub.net/mike/bomb-collins/
Sage is also quite tasty when paired with eggs!
This is one of my favourite recipes, takes a while but that’s mainly cooking time so you can do something else at the same time: http://www.waitrose.com/content/waitrose/en/home/recipes/recipe_directory/r/roasted_root_vegetable_and_organic_cheese_risotto.html
All of the things above, plus a combination of the first two: I love making pumpkin mac & cheese, with a little bit of sage to accent it. You can either muddle some sage in olive oil (and preferably let it sit for an hour or so to make a quick infused oil), and then strain the sage out and just use the oil [this is best if you are feeding more delicate palettes], or you can just cut the sage up finely and toss in with bread crumbs that you sprinkle on top of the mac & cheese.
Other favorite uses are baking it into bread or biscuits (if you’re inclined to bake – and, again, you can do chopped sage or use infused oil), or mixing finely chopped sage into fresh butter to spread on bread, potatoes, etc.
Dry it, make a smudge stick, and burn it for an awesome smelling house.
Stuff handfuls of it into a chicken cavity before you roast it.
Infuse vodka with it for interesting cocktail possibilities (and presents). Or olive oil.
Pair with any root veggie. (So winter stews are a great place for it)
Add fistfuls of finely chopped sage to any dressing or stuffing.
Add to loose sausage, or put it in biscuits for an amazeballs breakfast.
Make your own tomato sauce or doctor up the stuff from the jar.
It has anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It’s full of vitamin K (good for teeth).
My mom had a ever-growing sage bush when I was a kid. Can you tell? XD
I was going to say the same thing about the smudge stick!
I made some great popcorn with sage a few months ago that I still think about. I used some sage my mother had dried.
Airpop or brown paper bag in the microwave pop some popcorn. Drizzle popcorn with olive oil or melted butter, crumple sage leaves between your fingers until very fine and sprinkle over the popcorn, maybe sprinkle a pinch of salt as well.
Got some fresh ginger as well? Make the Apollo cocktail! So delicious.
Apollo Cocktail:
1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger. sliced
7 fresh sage leaves
1.5 oz gin
1 egg white
0.75 oz simple syrup
0.5 oz lemon juice
Garnish: 1 dash Angostura bitters, fresh sage leaf
Muddle ginger and 7 sage leaves in mixing glass. Add remaining ingredients and shake without ice. Add ice and shake again. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Top with bitters and single sage leaf.
WOW that sounds great – similar to the Ramos Gin Fizz, which turned gin into my go-to liquor.
Deep-fried sage leaves =) This won’t use up that many leaves, but it makes a delicious garnish for pretty much any rich meat dish that you want to “fancy up”.
Also, herbal teas: I used to shred a large handful of sage leaves, stuff them into a pot with any other herbs I had on hand and steep in boiling water (with lid on) for 5 minutes. Seemed to work a treat whenever I felt slightly under the weather (but didn’t taste so good…)
I can’t verify whether it’s awesome, but apparently sage pesto is a thing.
my nan dries and hangs in her wardrobe and puts little sachets in the linen cupboards etc, apparently its a natural moth repellant and it smells nice!
Wow! Sounds good! I’m thinking about cooking up some new dishes using sage!
Sage is a natural anti viral, anti-bacterial and anti fungal, so it’s a great herb to have laying around the house… It’s actually lovely as a savory, immune- boosting tea, either alone or with whatever other herbs you like. The Romans had a proverb- “Why die, when you have sage in the garden?”
Just a note though, it is also an anti coagulant, so not great for hemophiliacs or those on blood thinners. It will also dry up breast milk if taken in large quantities.
Not just hemophiliacs need to be wary of things with anti-coagulant properties. People with hypertension are often on blood thinners. That baby aspirin that many people take once a day for their hearts is also a blood thinner.
Sage & onion stuffing! ‘Tis the season & all that.
Stale chunks of bread, sage, sauteed onions mixed together in a bowl
Chicken/turkey or veg. stock poured all over to make it soggy
Maybe some salt & pepper in the mix.
Stir it all up, stuff in a bird, or in a squash, or just put in a tin.
Stick in an oven (~350?) for a while to think about what it’s done (time depends on what you’re cooking it in). If you’re roasting it in a bird or squash, just that cooking time is fine.
Yum.
Sage is great with pork too. You can rub a pork tenderloin with minced sage, garlic, salt and pepper and roast with onions, apples, winter squashes, anything like that. For a quick meal I like to take thin cut pork chops, salt and pepper them, and press whole sage leaves on both sides. I pan-fry very quickly in hot olive oil or butter and serve. The leaves should stick to the chops, giving lots of flavor AND looking really pretty.
Sage butter! So good on everything!
I make lemon sage butter pasta for a quick weeknight meal. Melt butter over low heat and add lots of sage leaves, but not more than would fit in a single layer. Add slices of lemon, or lemon juice and zest. You’ll have to take out the slices before serving. Simmer fir about ten minutes, careful not to let the butter burn, serve over any pasta and add parmesan.
Also, I drink it if I am feeling bloated before getting my period. It’s a diuretic so will suck the extra water out of you. Just make a tea out of it.
Sage is supposed to be good for sleep so if you make lavender pillows put some sage in there as well!
First: dry the leaves by hanging them in a dark corner of your house, preferably a drier area.
When I’m on top of my housecleaning (which isn’t often), I make a strong sage, peppermint and lavender “tea”, for a nice smelling antiviral/antibacterial/antifungal solution to spray on countertops, stove, bathroom after cleaning (sometimes I cheat and use essential oils). If there are any sick folks in the house, I will leave a pot of this mixture on the stove at the lowest possible setting to let it evaporate into the air.
Sometimes I gargle a strong sage tea when I’m sick, but be forewarned, that stuff is effective, but nasty.
Where do I start?
Chop and mix with butter for sage butter
Add to honey and boil for sage honey – good for sore throats
add to veg or meat when roasting or frying
Smells wonderful when crushed.
Fried sage leaves
Planning to add some to a sweet sleep pillow I am refilling.
Sage makes really yummy tea! It’s supposed to be good for detoxing, but I just think it tastes awesome.
Can you use the same sage to cleanse multiple homes?
Thank you
It’s super easy to make “rubbed sage”. Just dry the leaves (there are lots of good methods for accomplishing this), then put them in a big wire mesh strainer and literally “rub” them through into a bowl below. The result is that soft stuff like what you buy in the spice aisle at the store.
I LOVE SAGE! I wish my plants were perma-plants… the climate is too cold for them. My favorite is sage-clover tea, with red-clover flowers–it’s great when you’re sick, or cold, or sad.