Culinary Uses for Leaves.
A writer in the London Iron Trade Exchange, calling attention to a neglected source of culinary flavors, says:
"With the exception of sweet and bitter herbs, grown chiefly for the purpose, and parsley, which is neither bitter nor sweet, but the most popular of all flavoring plants, comparatively few other leaves are used. Perhaps I ought also to except the sweet bay, which is popular in rice and other puddings, and certainly imparts one of the most pleasant and exquisite flavors; but, on the other hand, what a waste there is of the flavoring properties of peach, almond, and laurel leaves, so richly charged with the essence of bitter almonds, so much used in most kitchens! Of course such leaves must be used with caution, but so must the spirit as well. An infusion of these could readily be made, either green or dry, and a tea or table spoonful of the flavoring liquid used. One of the most useful and harmless of all leaves for flavoring is that of the common syringa. When cucumbers are scarce, these are a perfect substitute in salads or anything in which that flavor is desired. The taste is not only like that of cucumbers, but identical—a curious instance of the correlation of flavors in widely different families. Again, the young leaves of cucumbers have a striking likeness in the way of flavor to that of the fruit. The same may be affirmed of carrot tops, while in most gardens there is a prodigious waste of celery flavor in the sacrifice of the external leaves and their partially blanched footstalks. Scores of celery are cut up into soup, when the outsides would flavor it equally well or better. The young leaves of gooseberries added to bottled fruit give a fresher flavor and a greener color to pies and tarts. The leaves of the flowering currant give a sort of intermediate flavor between black currants and red. Orange, citron, and lemon leaves impart a flavoring equal to that of the fruit and rind combined, and somewhat different from both. A few leaves added to pies, or boiled in the milk used to bake with rice, or formed into crusts or paste impart an admirable and almost inimitable bouquet. In short, leaves are not half so much used for seasoning purposes as they might be.
