FRESH V DRIED, well I probably use more fresh now than I used to, and mainly for flavouring fresh fish and simple soups. As part of the fresh marinade and as leaves in salad.

Yes, I do use the former for garnishes but I do use them in home made teas and, if I have bought too much for one session of cooking I freeze the chopped surplus. But fresh should be used to create a "clean" taste. Much of Middle Eastern cookery is based on this. Mint is used for both tea and, whole bunches, are stuffed into lamb before roasting.

Dried I use for depth, for example, using coriander seeds and grinding them down with ginger at the beginning of making a winter soup brings almost firey warmth and then just as the soup has thickened, I put a handful of freshly chopped coriander leaves in the final fifteen minutes or so of cooking.

I find this process reversed with black and white pepper corns as freshly milled the pepper is almost too hot compared with the already ground bought varieties. Probably due the preground oxidising even if "vacuum packed".

I also use fresh in baking, including rosemary and thyme in bread and, don't laugh, puddings. Rosemary goes really well with almonds and biscuits made with almond flour and flavoured with finely chopped rosemary is a real treat. I first had them in Greece as petit fours over twenty years ago.

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