Giant Blue Hyssop

AND THE FUTURE OF FOOD

BY MORRIS LEMIRE

This year’s unusual, late-may cold snap had me thinking about that one category in our gardens that we never worry about – native perennials. Stalwart children of the prairies and the foothills, they just keep on giving to the bees and butterflies, to the eye and the larder. They are hardy, resilient, low maintenance, aesthetic, pollinators, and on top of all that - many of them are edible.

As our climate changes and once-familiar habitats are altered, we will need a bank of food plants capable of adapting to new growing conditions. Farmers have known for well over a generation that once-reliable environments are in flux, causing uncertainty in agriculture from seed procurement to insurance rates. Tea and coffee growers are planting at higher altitudes, seeking cooler growing conditions. It’s high time we got to work on a future plan that will replace the madness of flying cucumbers in from Mexico.

It makes sense to start growing plants that are multi-use, providing us with more than one purpose. Native perennials fit the bill; they possess what I call call the power of three: beautiful, delicious, and bee magnets, all in one plant. Giant blue hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) is native to the prairies, and but one example. Support for native pollinators, on its own, justifies our growing of Giant Blue Hyssop.*

Giant Blue Hyssop was used by indigenous people across western North America as medicine, in ceremonies and for food. The Cree people call it Ka-wīkīpăkahk. But except for its occasional use as a garden ornamental, it was not adopted by European settlers, and has not become a staple of our present day cuisine. If you are one of the lucky few that has it in your flowerbed, by all means keep it there. It is beautiful, if not as showy as some of those ‘look-at-me darlings’ from other continents that our local bees never land on. But to maximize its gifts, you may want to also think of it as a culinary herb.

For several years, I have been growing Giant Blue Hyssop

and finding different ways of using it in the kitchen. It is a relative of the mint family, yet milder, with subtle flavours of anise and lavender. For comparison, it is milder than lovage, parsley, sorrel, or tarragon. Like many herbs, it requires a gentle touch; the less you mess with it the better, which is why it works well as a generous garnish in cold cucumber soup. High heat drains it, and its subtle flavours are lost in hot stirfries, or day-long stews.

This Alberta perennial is easy to grow and even easier to care for. You can propagate it from seed, or from a clump of root. In full sun, it will reach about a metre high, so plant it as a backdrop. With bumblebees in mind, plant a bed about a metre in diameter. Bees locate plants using ultra-violet light so the bigger the patch, the brighter the glow.

Source Giant Blue Hyssop from nurseries that don’t use neonicotinoids, an insecticide that kills bees. The Alberta Information Management System (ACIMS) ranks Hyssop as an S4 plant: secure, but not common. This suggests we forego digging up plant stock in the wild, and look to nurseries or local native plant societies for our plants.

SUGGESTIONS FOR USING GIANT BLUE HYSSOP

HYSSOP TEA: It is best to harvest the leaves at least six weeks after the plant emerges, but before it blooms. In Alberta, this generally means mid June to early July. Too soon and it hasn’t developed enough flavour, too late and the plant’s energy goes into flowering and the flavours become a bit subdued. This is also a good time to pick the leaves for drying. When it does flower you can use the flower to enhance tea, but remember to leave enough for the bees.

I tried several methods for drying hyssop leaf and found the best method was air-drying in a cool dark pantry, cut and hung upside down. Drying it in full sun, wok frying, bamboo basket steaming, and even low heat dehydration, didn’t contribute any results that were worth the extra effort.

The key to making a good pot of herbal tea from Giant Blue Hyssop leaves, either fresh leaf or dried, lies in the steeping temperature of the filtered water; as with green tea, 80° C to 82° C works best; at 100° C the subtle anise and mint flavours are muted.

OMELETTES: A perfect match, with one cautionary note: add the leaf to the egg mix rather than to the onion or mushroom sauté stage.

SALADS: Hyssop leaf works as an addition to potato salad, pasta salads, rice salads, and most particularly, in fruit salad. It also pairs well with cucumber and zucchini.

SOUPS: Giant Blue Hyssop complements cream soups beautifully. Stir it in a few minutes before serving. It also works well in hot soups if (wait for it) you add it closer to the end.

JELLY: If you wish to try Agastache in a jelly, follow a recipe for a herb jelly, such as basil. David and Rose Mabey recommend using apple jelly as the base, adding the herb, in our case hyssop, late in the process. Hyssop jelly pairs well with roast chicken, or pork.

TAFFY: After much playing around, what I ended up with was candy. You can keep the cooked leaf in for texture, or strain it out for clearer taffy and better optics. (Don’t ask!)

SYRUPS AND SHRUBS: Hyssop leaf lends itself perfectly to cold extraction methods, making it an ideal herb for cocktail syrups, smoothies and shrubs. Have fun experimenting with this one.

CUT FLOWERS: Agastache makes a lovely addition to a bouquet. It also works very well as a dried flower, but again, leave enough for the bees.