The summer garden season has mostly flown by, but our herbs are still going strong (even if the tomatoes are mostly gone). The exception to the plentiful herbs is our cilantro, which went to seed last month. I’ve got a second planting sprouting, and hopefully those plants will have time to produce before it gets too cold. I need to work on better timing with my succession plantings.

I usually make my vegetarian chili in the winter, using veggies from the grocery store, and dried herbs. After today’s garden inspection and harvest, I decided to give it a try with fresh herbs. It may be a little warm still for maximum appreciation of chili, but part of the traditionally huge batch gets frozen anyway, and I wanted to see how the fresh vs dried herb versions compare.

After sautéing lots of chopped assorted vegetables with plenty of garlic, I added canned kidney and black beans, stewed tomatoes and tomato sauce. I had picked a sizable basketful of basil (it’s been a great basil year), oregano and parsley, which nicely complemented the commercial chili powder and cumin. After simmering long enough for the flavors to meld, and adjusting the salt and cayenne pepper to taste, the consensus is, the fresh herbs make a different. Not that I won’t make full use of their dried counterparts this winter, but with plenty of fresh flavor available, it’s fun to flaunt it.