Preserving the Harvest: Making Herb Salts, Vinegars, and Syrups Before Frost

As the last golden days of fall arrive and the garden begins to slow, now’s the time to capture those fresh herbal flavors before frost claims your plants. Preserving herbs into salts, vinegars, and syrups lets you savor their fragrance and taste all winter long — or share them as thoughtful, homemade gifts.

🌿 Herbal Vinegars: Bright and Beautiful

Herbal vinegars are the perfect way to capture the essence of your garden in a bottle. They’re lovely for salad dressings, marinades, or drizzling over roasted veggies.

Try these combinations:

• Rosemary & Garlic Chive Vinegar – Earthy, aromatic, and perfect for roasted potatoes or chicken.
• Tarragon & Shallot Vinegar – Ideal for vinaigrettes and fish dishes.
• Basil & Oregano Vinegar – A perfect flavor to splash over tomatoes or toss with olive oil and pasta.

How to Make It:

1. Fill a clean glass jar half to two-thirds full with fresh (washed and dried) herbs.
2. Warm your vinegar slightly (white wine, distilled white, or rice vinegar with 5% acidity).
3. Pour over herbs, leaving about an inch of headspace. 
4. Bruise the herbs with the handle of a wood spoon.
5. Cover tightly and let infuse for 2–3 weeks in a cool, dark place.
6. Strain and bottle in decorative jars — they make charming kitchen gifts!

Add your creation to Backyard Patch Italian Dressing Mix or Lemon Chive Dressing Mix and enjoy at your holiday table.

🍬 Simple Herbal Syrups: Sweet and Soothing

Herbal syrups add flavor and flair to tea, sparkling water, mocktails, and desserts.

Flavor Ideas:

• Thyme & Lemon Syrup – Uplifting and bright; delicious in tea or with plain soda.
• Anise Hyssop Syrup – Lightly licorice and floral; pairs beautifully with gin-style mocktails.
• Lemon Verbena Syrup – Perfect for cocktails or drizzled over fruit salad.

How to Make It:

1. Combine 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar in a saucepan.
   
2. Bring to a simmer, stirring until sugar dissolves.
3. Add a generous handful of herbs (about ½ to 1 cup) and stir for 1 minute.
4. Remove from heat and cover.
5. Let steep 30 minutes or until it reaches room temperature, strain, and refrigerate up to 2 weeks.

Use these along with the drink suggestions in our Backyard Patch Beginner Mocktails book.

🧂 DIY Herb Salts and Sugars: Quick Gifts from the Garden

These are ridiculously easy to make and keep the essence of herbs long after the garden fades.

Herb Salt Ideas:

• Rosemary & Sage Salt – Great for roasted vegetables and meats.
• Basil & Marjoram Salt – Adds a burst of summer to pasta dishes.

Herb Sugar Ideas:

• Scented Geranium Sugar – Perfect for baking or tea.
• Mint Sugar – Adds a cool twist to hot cocoa or cookies.

How to Make It:

1. Layer salt or sugar with fresh herbs leaves in a shallow jar (or pulse in a blender).
2. Use a ratio of 4 parts base to 1 part herbs.
3. Allow to meld for two weeks, then remove leaves whole (if using a blender, spread out on wax papaer to dry for 48 hours before storing.)
4. Store in airtight jars.

Keep near the stove with a jar of Backyard Patch Herbs Seasonings as ready-to-use cooking aids.

🎁 Gift Idea: “Preserve the Harvest” Basket

Bundle your homemade herb vinegar, a jar of herb salt or sugar, and a bottle of syrup with one of our Backyard Patch Herb Mixes for a thoughtful, garden-inspired gift. Add a sprig of dried herbs and a recipe tag for a personal touch.

🪶 Suggestion:
A woven basket with a bottle of herbal vinegar, a jar of salt, a syrup bottle, and a tea blend or seasoning packet — all nestled in kraft paper and tied with a raffia bow.

🌬️ Don’t Let Frost Steal Your Flavor

Taking a few hours to preserve your herbs now means you’ll have a taste of summer all winter long. Whether you enjoy them in your kitchen or give them as gifts, these simple projects keep your herbal harvest alive — in the most delicious ways possible.

Special Mother's Day Gifts at Home - How Tuesday Herb Pounding

Mother's Day is right around the corner, so I thought I would start sharing a few make at home gifts you could do yourself.  And to combine with it, we are so excited to be giving away $350 in gift cards for Mother's Day to four lucky readers. The giveaway will run from April 23 – May 8.  

For the next couple weeks we are going to give you instructions for some personalized herb theme gifts  to make for your Mom. and if you visit the other bloggers in the links at the bottom you will get entries in the drawing.  Have fun explore and creating!

Herb Pounded Gifts

Tools Needed

parchment paper/wax paper

rubber mallet

fresh herbs, leaves or flowers

card stock, note cards, plain gift bags or plain white napkins

Steps

You need a sturdy table or the floor to do this craft, as you will be pounding things and don't want to take out a table in the process.

Line the table with newspaper or torn brown paper bags to protect the surface.

Gather some fresh herbs, leaves or flowers from the yard.  The brighter the color the better the transfer in pounding.  You can even gather some grass fronds.

Do a test run to see how this works and get a feel for how hard or soft you need to pound.

I use a few pieces of card stock to test my flowers.

You place the flower/leaf face down on a sheet of white paper. Place parchment or wax paper over the greenery. Pound with a rubber mallet, being careful not to allow the flower/leaf  to reposition itself.  

Don't pulverize it, just pound it hard enough to break open the cells of the plant so they release the color onto the paper.

Once you get the hang of how hard or not hard to strike, then you can move to your real items.

Again lay your item flat on the surface.  Place the flower, leaves or grass on the surface 

Cover with parchment. Pound with the rubber mallet to transfer the color.

Remove the parchment and remnants of greenery and compost them.  Then add different layers of color with other leaves and plants.

You can add some drawn art to fill in the colors or just go with the natural pounded flower look.

If you use card stock, trim the card stock to fit in an envelop and you have stationary for Mom.

or if you use a gift bag, you can put other gifts inside your homemade bag. And maybe that gift are these great grass decorated napkins.

Like a grass stain these are hard to wash out, so the napkins are totally washable, the grass patterns will fade over time, but it will take a while.  Have fun and get outside!

How Tuesday - Chocolate Dipped Spoons

Stir a little sweetness into a cup of coffee or cocoa with a seasonal spoon.  I love making chocolate spoons.  They make great favors, wonderful gifts and they are fun to use.

For Halloween they can be decorated to be ghosts, spider webs or other spooky creatures and for Christmas or Hanukkah they can be sprinkled with colored sugar in appropriate colors.

Candied Spoons

12 oz. pkg semi sweet chocolate chips

2 tsp coconut oil
35 to 45 plastic spoons (you can use white, black, gold or silver or a mixture)
Candies, nonpareils and colored sugar for garnish

Line baking sheets with parchment paper and place a couple of round handled spoons in the middle of the baking sheet.

Place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on medium for 30 seconds.  Stir to be sure all the chips have melted.  Add shortening to thin chocolate and stir gently.

Dip each spoon into chocolate mixture to cover the bowl of the spoon.  Place on parchment paper with the bowl edge resting on handle of wooden spoon to keep it above the paper.

After chocolate begins to harden, but is still soft add sprinkles of colored sugar, mini chips or other decorations to the chocolate.

Once chocolate has hardened (which will take some time), wrap each spoon with cellophane or a small plastic bag.

Alternates: Use white chocolate and add two mini semi-sweet chips for eyes to make ghosts, or sprinkle with blue sugar for a Hanukkah treat. Use a large marshmallow on a stick instead of a spoon for the perfect cocoa stir.

Decorate with tags and ribbon for favors and gifts.

Wrap each spoon in cellophane and place in a mug to display.

Tie them with ribbon to a package of hot cocoa or coffee to make a teacher or friend gift.

Elgin Show and Open House

I am prepping for a Show in Elgin On Saturday and my Open House at the House on Sunday so it is wild and hectic and clean, very clean!!  I am making myself stay downstairs in the herb room if I am even thinking about making a mess!  But mostly today I am packing the car and labeling the herbs!

If you want to stop over at the house on Sunday we will have the cider and cocoa ready beginning at 11 AM and welcome anyone up until Masterpiece Theater is on Sunday evening (7 or 8 PM)  Address and location info is included on the Facebook events page also, linked here.

For those too far away to stop by we have a Deal of the Day each day (however- as a bonus I will not be able to get online to update things until Monday 12/12/16 so technically all these deals will last all weekend!)

SORRY ALL THESE DEALS EXPIRED ON MONDAY 12/12/16

Friday - Bath Tower - for the weekend we will make the Bath Tower only $10.00 instead of $12 so you can get three decoratively packaged bath salts in lavender lemon and grapefruit with a cute wood scoop.

Saturday - 20% off anything in the gift and gift basket section of Etsy.  We have a gift basket section with teapot, tea mugs and tea cups, as well as manly basket called Master of the Universe and other gift items and any of them will be 20% OFF with this coupon code: BASKET20

Sunday - Free Shipping on all orders over $25.00.  Just use the code FREESHIP on our Etsy Store or Square Store. If for any reason it does not work, we will refund your shipping charges quickly!

Monday - and on the off chance I am still not recovered on Monday, here is the Monday Deal as well - Buy One Get One FREE on all Herb Mixes - this includes our Dill Dip, Ranch Dressing, Meat rubs and all the herb mixes we have.  They are included in several listings, you'll know them when you find them, as they are all priced at $2.35, but most of theme are here: Herb Mix TOTAL

Shipping Deadlines 2016

SHIPPING DEADLINES

The last first class retail shipping day is December 15.
The last first class shipping day is December 20 and
The last Priority mail shipping day is December 21. 

To help you not procrastinate I have pulled together 12 days of Herbal Gifting.  Each day I will place an item on sale in my shops and post it as the deal-of-the-day at the top of the blog.  The blog may then be other ideas and information but the top will give you your herbal gift.  The sale item will expire at midnight CDT.  These herb-inspired items make great holiday gifts for yourself and others.

Shop that item and we will make sure it arrives to you or your recipient in plenty of time for Christmas.

Barley Vegetable Soup - makes a great gift!

Find this mix on Etsy right here!

This quick and easy soup mix is salt-free and tasty in cold weather! And the packaging is so cute for gift giving you might want to give it to all your friends and office mates!

More Edible Gifts

Prepping for the Holiday

Tea and Muffins are a wonderful gift. You can make this recipe or any other muffin recipe then present it in a fashionable package as a gift.

Banana & Chocolate Muffin Recipe   Yield: 12 muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup quick-cooking oats

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 medium ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)

1 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a standard muffin tin, or line with cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, mash the bananas, then whisk in the buttermilk, sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla extract.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture, and whisk just until blended.
4. Remove one cup of the batter, and add it to a medium bowl. Whisk in the cocoa powder, just until blended.
5. Divide the main (non-chocolate) batter between muffin cups. It’s about 1/4 cup of batter per cup.
6. Scoop 1 tablespoon of chocolate batter on top of the batter in each muffin cup.
7. Using a toothpick, swirl the chocolate batter into the banana batter.
8. Bake for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool for about five minutes.

To create an elegant gift, line a hat box with a tea towel and fill it with homemade muffins and flea market teacups you fill with herbal butter or cream cheese spreads (try each of these: Company Cream Cheese and Herb Flower Spread.)  Tuck loose tea and whole lemons around the box and include a pretty butter knife.

A more casual idea would be to provide a Christmas breakfast by placing the muffins in a basket with a container of muffin themed spread and some gourmet coffee.

I adapted this recipe from an article in the Herb Companion Magazine of December 2007.

Our Jam Surprise Muffin Mix.

Pineapple Sage Muffin Spread 

This is great on muffins, toast and crackers.

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 Tbls. milk

3 Tbls. confectioners sugar (or more to taste)
¼ tsp. cinnamon

4 fresh pineapple sage leaves, minced and rubbed between your fingers to release flavor or ¼ tsp. dried

¼ cup crushed pineapple drained

In a medium bowl mix ricotta and milk on medium speed with a handheld mixer for 1 minute.  Add confectioner’s sugar, 1 Tbls. at a time, mixing after each addition.  Stir in cinnamon and pineapple sage.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.  Stir mixture and gently fold in pineapple.  Refrigerator for another hour before transferring to a serving bowl.  Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Products we recommend if you do not have time to make your own:

Scones Mixes

Shortbread Mixes

Jam Surprise and other Muffin Mixes

Bergamot Black Tea

Victorian Lavender Tea

Cinnamon Spice Herbal Tea

Holiday Tea Blends

Making Edible Gifts

Prepping for the Holiday Series

I will be putting up my Advent Calendar again this December (check out last year’s calendar here) with a craft, idea or recipe for each day until Christmas.  However this year, in addition to that I decided to create a Prepping for the Holidays Series.  I will provide gift ideas for making your own presents, holiday entertaining ideas and recipes for holiday meals.

Making Edible Gifts

Craft an edible gift like a butter or dip and present it to your hostess or office mates.

Here are two recipes for butter:

Sweet Herb Whipped Honey

This recipe goes well with whole wheat bread or muffins so you could combine them in a bag, box or basket. It has a nice long shelf life so your recipient does not need to use it instantly.

¼ cup mild honey

1 Tbls. finely minced basil, marjoram or lemon thyme (or a mix)

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

In a microwave safe glass mixing bowl, heat honey for 45 seconds or until just warm.  Stir in herbs.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for 24 hours.  Skim the herbs from the top and discard.  Bring honey to room temperature and whip for 1 minute with a handheld mixer set to medium speed.  Add butter and mix 30 seconds more or until mixture is light and creamy.  Place in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.  Allow spread to come to room temperature before serving.

Herb Butter

1 lb. butter, softened

1 tsp. ground black pepper

½ tsp. chopped garlic

3 Tbls. chopped chives, fresh (1 Tbls. dried)

2 tsp. tarragon, dried

2 tsp. chervil, dried

1 Tbls. parsley, dried

Combine ingredients in a bowl with a fork or a hand mixer.  Divide into 4 small containers.

To use: Herb butter --  Store in refrigerator.  Let come to room temperature to serve.  Spread on hot bread, rolls or muffins.

You could try this cream cheese recipe too:

If you want the fun of making a butter, but don’t have time to blend herbs, try these Herb Mixes (they can be blended with hummus too!:

Boursin Blend

Butter N Cheese

Cilantro Spread

Herbal Spread

Herb Cheese Dip

Garlic & Herb Combination

Herb-themed Holiday Gift Sets - Backyard Patch style

This year I had abundant herbs.  The cooler weather with hot flashes and abundant rain made the herbs happier than any of my vegetable plants.

On the left is the thyme bed at my community garden and on the right is a portion of the Mediterranean wing, with savory, oregano, fennel and calendula.  The purple flowering plant in the back is traditional hyssop.

With the herbs being lush we were able to craft more tea and herb cooking blends then usual and this got me to thinking about ways to package them to make the perfect gifts.

For the Tea Lover

Tea to go sampler

A pretty window box holds a demi tea cup (no saucer) and three small (.5 oz) tea tins with blends of your choice.  Each box with be perfect for gifting, tied with ribbon including a tea infuser and ship-ready.  

Tea Towers

Along the same lines as the sampler we have full-sized Tea Tin Towers.  With a tea tower you get 3 or 5 teas in our full-sized 2 oz. tins gathered with ribbon into a tower of flavor.  Tied to the ribbon will be a bead-decorated tea infuser.  You can choose the teas included in the tower, or use our premade-choices. We have a three-tea tower  or a  five-tea tower  

For the Foodie in your life

Popping Popcorn Sprinkles 

We have had a popcorn shaker seasoning for several years, but this year we crafted two more to make it a threesome. We placed two (your choice) in decorative shaker jars holding .75 oz., along with an ear of microwavable popcorn.  The set is packaged in clear cellophane bag with a decorative ribbon tie and full instructions.  This gift will have a pretty tag and each flavor will be labeled.  They include: Original Popcorn Sprinkle, Cheesy Herb Sprinkle, Spicy Hot Sprinkle.

I have long thought that packaging herb seasoning blends in groups was a great idea, but I never could find the right medium.  This year I found the perfect jars and containers. We have two different sets

Everyday Seasoning Kit

This is a single herbs kit with 6 different individual herbs. We call it a Seasoning Tower.  The tins are in a colorful cardboard tube with a holiday ribbon.  Serval different colors of tube are available.

Soup Mix Gift Sets

Our soup mixes are a popular gift item and the new packaging we created last year has really helped with that.  This year we decided on a few gift combinations you can check them all out in our soup collection on the website

For the Queen (or King) in need of relaxation

Bath items are very prolific online so our items, even though they are crafted without chemicals from herbs raised organically, do not stand out.  We have decided to fix that.  We are repackaging our Bath and Spa items in a whole new way.  

Bath Salts

Many different versions of Bath Salts -- the Skin-Soothing Bath Salts, Relaxing Combination Salts and the Milk Salt Blends will all be available in lovely and colorful organza bags instead of the envelopes we have used in the past.  And the best part of this is there will be no change in price. They are still available for $3.25 for 3 ounces.  Now you can mix and match to create sets too.  We have them listed in a Bath Collection.

Bath Salt Sundae

Is this not a cleaver idea.  I was tossing around bath scrubbies as I was putting them away and one fell onto a mason jar and suddenly I got to thinking if it was a parfait glass it would look like a Sundae!  So here is a bath salt-filled parfait glass, complete with a red tulle wrapped rose herb soap as the "cherry" on top! This is another gift perfect for teachers, groomers and others life helpers!

Bath Tower

Like our tea tower this collection of 3 bath salts will be packaged in square boxes tied together with colorful ribbon to create a wonderful gift package that will need no additional wrapping. 

Bath Tub Tea

With 4 different blends of Bath tub tea to share we thought it was time the presentation got a facelift.  We are making a decorative tea bag with raffia tie that can hang from the faucet.  The tea filter bags will be filled with a single bath measure of herbs and packaged in groups of 3 ($4.95) and 5 ($7.95) in a pretty decorated cellophane bag or a set of 10 that will be presented in a colored mason jar ($20.00).

We are hoping you enjoy our special gift selection as much as we enjoy making them!

Fall Herbal teas

In the Fall I begin thinking about making new tea blends.  I do not know why the fall affects me that way, but as soon as the evenings cool, not only am I making tea, but I am crafting new tea blends in my head.  It could be the abundance of dried material that I have available come fall or it could be a reaction to the gathering of scents from the garden that I have absorbed during the growing season.  Either way I start formulating blends. 

Some of this mental formulating I  turn into blends to try and each Fall I make two tea blends that are only available only until January that i market to Backyard Patch customers.. This year they are:

Silver and Gold

An all herb blend of silver sage with calendula petals and chamomile for gold along with a touch of cinnamon and the robust flavor of marjoram make this a flavorful and relaxing blend for evening drinking around the warm fire.

 

2013 Tea blend "Comfort & Joy"

Holly and Ivy

I crafted a wonderful red and green blend this year.  Rooibos (Honey Bush) with Green Tea mixed with a bit of hibiscus and rose hips and a touch of lemon balm make this refreshing tea perfect for Christmas morning.

To get you in a tea mood I also have some ideas for making your own tea at home. Try out one of these recipes, or let them inspire you to explore your pantry and whip up some tasty brews with whatever ingredients you have on hand.

Seasonal Spices --

Star Anise, Allspice, and Orange
In a small pot, combine 2 whole star anise, 2 dried organic orange peels, and 5 allspice berries. Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and steep for 5 minutes, covered. Strain and drink.

Apple and Cinnamon
In a small pot, combine ½ cup dried apples and 1 cinnamon stick. Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and steep for 5 minutes, covered. Pour the tea into a mug and drink, and then munch on the soft, warm apple slices at the bottom! You can reuse the cinnamon stick several times.

Seasonal Healing --

Ginger, Thyme, Cayenne, Lemon
Combine 1 teaspoon dried ginger and 1 teaspoon thyme in a small pot. Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and steep for 5 minutes, covered. Strain the tea into a mug and add a pinch of cayenne powder and a dash of fresh lemon juice. This brew will help boost immunity in cold and flu season. Plus the cayenne adds a bit of clearing for better breathing.

Mint, Lemon and Fennel Seed

Combine 1 tsp any kind of mint with 1 tsp. lemon peel or lemon herbs (like lemon balm, lemon thyme or lemon grass) in a tea pot.  Pour over 2 cups of boiling water and allow to steep for 5 minutes.  Add a few seeds of fennel just before you strain into cups. This will sweeten and give it a licorice kick.  You can add a bit of lemon and more sweetness with honey if you want.  The lemon and mint will soothe sore throats and make breathing easier.

What are some of your favorite fall tea combinations?

Bath Blend of the Month - Bath Cookies

Tis' the season for cookies, so why not make some for the bath also! This recipe makes 10-12 cookies depending on size. And bath cookies make fantastic gifts any time of the year.

Bath Cookies 

2 cups of sea salt or rock salt

1/2 cup Baking soda

1/2 cup Cornstarch

2 Tbls.of Almond oil

1 tsp Vitamin E oil

1-2 eggs

6 drops Essential oil ( I recommend cinnamon, basil, rose or lemon to keep with a cookie theme)

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until moistened.  You can roll out the cookie dough on a floured surface or roll the dough into 1 inch balls. Cut the cookies out with cookie cutters or flatten balls to form a cookie shape. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool.  Wrap these in air tight packaging or seal them in an airtight container. These cookies will keep for 3 to 4 months maybe longer.

You can sprinkle the tops with cinnamon, lemon peel, or even chocolate chips.

To Use: Place 1-2 cookies per bath by adding them to running warm water. Be clear in the packaging these are are for the bath not the mouth!

Found this recipe on CraftBits