[Granville-Hough] 22 Sep 2009 - Sage
Trustees for Granville W. Hough
gwhough-trust at oakapple.net
Fri Sep 22 05:27:43 PDT 2017
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:39:16 -0700
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: Sage 22 Sep 2009
Sage, the Wonder Plant at Hog-Killing Time.
In the corner of our garden, we had a plot of sage, about 12 feet by 12
feet. It was not a wild plant, so far as I know, so we had it in our
garden. We weeded it by hand, but we did nothing else to it. It was
simply there until we needed it at hog-killing time. Then, it came into
its own. It has escaped me now how we prepared it. But we mixed it with
the meat we were preparing for sausage. It gave the sausage an improved
flaver. We also used it in preparing corn-bread dressing which we
inserted into the cavity left when chicken or turkey was prepared for
roasting. Every Thanksgiving day when I taste the dressing which comes
with the restaurant meal of turkey, I can see the corner of our garden
and its patch of grayish-green sage. I remember the smell and the taste.
It isnÆt an unpleasant taste, but it is distinctive. It is sage.
In reading the newspapers on the West Coast, I have seen several
recommendations for preparing wild deer or elk for consumption. People
who have never tasted wild animal food consider it too gamey. One way to
reduce the gamey flavor is to cook it with sage. Now that wild game has
returned to SullivanÆs Hollow, it may be that sage is again being used
in cooking.
Sage is a member of the mint family, which contains many of the plants
we associate with good cooking. It is officially Salvia officinalis, and
the plant had historic medicinal uses in Europe.
Sage is in no way related to the Western plant, called sage-brush, which
at times smells slightly like regular sage. Sage-brush got its name
because of that faint odor. Perhaps the Indians used sage-brush in some
of their medicinal or cooking preparations, but it is more likely they
just used branches as fuel for cooking when nothing else was available.
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O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent
to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a
hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look,
your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me
again until you say, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."
Mathew 23:37-39.
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