Sage

Key facts Sage is wonderful with pork and veal; the velvety leaves and pretty flowers mean that sage is also often grown for its looks in an ornamental garden. Traditionally it has been used to ward off evil and snakebites and improve women's fertility.

Sage has always been one of the great healing herbs: its name comes from the Latin salvere (to save).

Its culinary use is largely despised by the French, but much favoured by the British and Italians. It is a very strongly flavoured herb, so has to be used with caution. It's delicious in stuffings for all poultry and pork and especially good in pork sausages.It is easy to grow, though as with mint there are many varieties. I grow the broad leaf sage. This is a herb that does dry well, without losing much flavour at all.

Related Recipes

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 Serves 4 for lunch or as a starter or 2 as a main course

Welsh Rabbit (Rarebit) with Sage and Onions

Cheese on toast with a difference, this easy classic snack is ideal when you are in need of speedy sustenance.

 

 

 Serves 4 as a snack or 2 as a main course

Crumpet Pizza

Well, a crumpet pizza does make sense if you think about it – soft, squidgy bread that gets lightly toasted for just a bit of crunch, then all those wonderful holes so that the cheese and other ingredients can melt right down into it. And because cru

 

 

 Serves 2

Celery Baked in Vinaigrette with Pancetta and Shallots

This is a great way to serve celery as a vegetable. I used silicone paper (baking parchment) for this as it looks very pretty if you take the whole parcel to the table – otherwise foil would do. For 4 to 6 people, you can double the ingredients...

 

 

 Serves 4

Pork Chops with Sage and Apples

You won't believe quite how easy this recipe is: the traditional flavours of sage and apples complement the pork perfectly.

 

 

 Serves 4

Roasted Wild Rabbit and Bacon with Lemon, Thyme and Parsley Stuffing

For Delia, this lovely recipe brings back childhood memories of how her mother used to cook rabbit - simply, on a bed of onions covered with bacon and the stuffing alongside. Time to revive a tradition maybe?