On Mon, 10 Mar 2003 20:14:18 -0800, wrote:
Having grown Russian Tarragon only to discover that French Tarragon is the true
tarragon for cooking, can anyone tell me the correct names for the herbs
Sage, Rosemary and Basil, used for cooking purposes?

Last year I noticed there were about 20 different basils, but which one is for
cooking italian dishes, I just don't know. Same for poultry spice (sage) and
rosemary for potatoe dishes.

Americans don't specialize in precise botanical nomenclature, more's
the pity. Really cheap seed packets advertising "sage" or "dill" or
"basil" will probably include the proper name and be of maximum
culinary use. There are, as you say, zillions of varieties of basil.
'Globe' basil (tiny leaves on a cute, bush-shaped plant) are flavorful
and useful, as are 'Lettuce (leaf) varietes. 'Lemon' or 'Thai' or
other modifiers often indicate specialty flavors, or appearance
('ruby').

For culinary pruposes, look for an unmodified name -- thyme, basil,
sage, mint, etc. I have (or, given this past winter, may have
previously had) a semi-miniature bonsai variety of rosemary, but the
unmodified rosemary plant is doing quite nicely. Fragrant and
delicious with chicken.