This is the secret of my various delectable lemon chicken recipes: a large bunch of very fragrant thyme, and an equally giant bunch of summer savoury, tied together by one of their long stems to make it easy to haul them out before serving. Subscribe now for unlimited access . Login or signup to continue reading All articles from our website & app The digital version of Today's Paper Breaking news alerts direct to your inbox Interactive Crosswords, Sudoku and Trivia All articles from the other regional websites in your area Continue Add a very fresh, extremely large, juicy, sun-ripened lemon, either stuffed up the chook's bum for roasting or the juice added to the sauce, plus fresh garlic, which is far sweeter when freshly picked and less acrid, and you have a meal no one can duplicate unless they have a herb garden and a lemon tree.
Garden herbs are nothing like the "fresh" ones from the supermarket. Picture Shutterstock I didn't realise what a difference more sunlight, less travel and refrigeration meant till I tried to make a tomato and basil sauce in England. Here in mid-summer it's a treat on anything from pasta to fresh crusty sour dough bread.
The kindest word for the mess I made with supermarket herbs and veg was 'anaemic '. The "fresh" basil you buy tastes nothing like home grown basil. Flavours evaporate as soon as herbs, fruit and veg are picked.
They diminish even more if frozen or refrigerated. A supermarket carrot is just a carrot, useful for bribing wombats. A .