Last year we planted a bunch of herbs around the garden outside. We decided on rosemary, thyme, bay and sage. pretty traditional, but still useful and quite climate resistant. Fall has kicked in fast and soon the first freezes will arrive. Our sage plant exploded this summer and decided to do something with all the leaves before it died. I searched a lot on what to do with them since we had so much and almost thought of doing my own sage essential oil…quite courageous, but didn’t haha! you need a distillator.. Anyways I found out of all the benefits from sage: it is anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, for colds, sore throats, for better brain function, intestinal movements, keeps teeth healthy, good for menstrual problems and the list goes on..no wonder the word sage derives from the latin word “salvia” which means to be saved.. ha!
I don’t use sage a lot but after researching its benefits I’ll for sure keep it in my mind next time I want to make myself a cup of tea. Just infuse 4/5 leaves of sage for 5 minutes for each cup of hot water and add 1 tsp of honey if desired, it is very relaxing and comforting.
One great sage use is to make sage pesto. It has an original and bitter taste, a great substitute to traditional basil pesto, great for dressing pasta or other grains like spelt or barley. I used it to make a frittata, it was very tasty. (the eggs came from the farm down the street in the country, OBVIOUSLY 🙂 ).
  
Sage Pesto:
1 big bowl of cleaned and dried sage leaves
extra virgin olive oil
40 g pine nuts
1 garlic clove (optional)
salt
in a blender put all the sage leaves, garlic, salt and pine nut and start pouring the olive oil (I must of used 1 cup roughly) while blending. keep adding until you get the right texture. taste and adjust the salt.
I had so much sage I made about 2 cups of pesto which is a lot, so some of it I freezed. Keep the rest in a jar in the fridge (up to a month) and remember to always pour some olive oil on top of the pesto and it will prevent it from going bad.
bay and rosemary plants, and frittata with sage pesto:
Amber Bewick 