A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Chocolate in the Herb Garden?



Ahhhh chocolate! One of our favorite flavors. My memories are full of chocolate. Mom would bake a beautiful, rich, dark devil's food cake. Usually a three layer creation and then it needed frosting. Her chocolate cakes always had a 7 minute boiled frosting on them. She would stand over the stove with her makeshift double boiler and beat this satiny, soft, voluminous frosting until it stood in peaks...7 minutes. She would take a wide spatula and fill and frost the cake. Taking the spatula, she would touch the cake all over to make peaks standing tall. The cake was always put on a fostoria cake stand and placed in the center of the dining room table. I would come home from school and there was this beautiful creation. We didn't cut into it until my Dad came to the dinner table. Mom was known for her fudge. She made the old fashioned kind and it always turned out for her. It was always poured into an 8 inch pyrex pie pan. I have that pan today. It isn't clear anymore...sort of tan in color. I like to think that some of her fudge is still here. Chocolate chip cookies were big at our house to, but those were my creations. Mom never liked making cookies, so the job was given to me at an early age.




I have been blogging about herb gardens...now what does this chocolate have to do with that? There are some chocolate plants that you can plant in your garden. One of them is Chocolate Mint. This is a very strong mint used for teas. Has a smell similar to a peppermint patty. Great dried and added to black tea or used by itself, Chocolate Mint also makes a nice addition to chocolate desserts or a surprise addition to breakfast breads. Easy to grow, spreads rapidly. You may want to grow this one in a container!


Another chocolate plant is Chocolate Cosmos. Chocolate cosmos is both nose and eye candy for your garden. When it’s in full bloom, mature blossoms on long, slender stems look like candy kisses on a stick and fill the late afternoon with the sweet scent of vanilla tinged chocolate. New blossoms hug the foliage of the plant, nearly concealing it with their numbers! Add to that the sweet chocolate fragrance and you end up with something very special. I thought these would be interesting additions to an herb garden. I found information about Chocolate Cosomos at http://www.bonsaigardener.org/How_to_grow_Chocolate_Cosmos.html
For geranium fans, there is a chocolate peppermint variety.The aroma from these leaves is worth planting alone, smelling like a York peppermint patty (one of my favorite candy bars...and low fat too!) A speedy grower with a chocolate center and a scent to match.
Maybe I'll add some chocolate to my garden this year. It reminds me of the year I used cocoa mulch around my beds and I couldn't keep my Cocker, Maggie out of it. She loved it and starting eating it. I had to remove every bit of it, so she wouldn't get sick. I'll not be adding that to my garden again.
Balisha


6 comments:

OhioMom said...

Oh I have to find some of this chocolate mint, I have a couple of designated pots for my container garden this year for flowers, and I would love this!

I have to say that memories of Mama's seem to revolve around food, wonder if that is how my children will remember me ?

Lynn said...

Ok I WAS on a diet until all the talk about chocolate!!! Have to go find some... ttyl

Balisha said...

Hi Ohiomom,
My kids talk about their Grandma's food all the time. I haven't seen choc. mint at any nurserys, but I've seen it online.

Hi Lynn,
Did I catch you eating some chocolate? Have an M&M. I wonder if it would smell like chocolate while you are gardening in that area? Oh, my!

Anonymous said...

Yum, my favorite smell! I've grown the Chocolate Cosmos in my garden. It is a tender perennial in my area but the fragrance is heavenly.

Elenka said...

Egads, I have to find those chocolate things ! Just when I think everything is good, it gets even better. Thanks !

Balisha said...

Hi Racquel,
I'm sure it would be considered an annual here. Did you like it?

Hi Elenka,
I'm going to look for these too. They sound interesting.