Text and pictures/Bu Bai

I still remember that two years ago, my best friend encountered a strange plant in Suzhou and sent me a photo for consultation. She thought it was lavender. The flowers were purple, like lavender, and the flowers were in bunches. They looked very similar.

Especially when sage, lavender, and verbena are planted in large areas, the soft long branches are topped with strings of flowers, which looks very confusing.

I went to a lavender town two days ago, which is said to be a lavender planting base. Lavender is rarely seen, but large areas of sage grow overwhelmingly. The base is planted with ornamental varieties. The flowers bloom blue, and the fine petals are layered in layers. They are elegant and beautiful. They emit bursts of fragrance from time to time, but the fragrance is not useful. Sage, used as a spice, is strong and has a faint fragrance mixed with a bit of camphor. The aroma is not as sweet and pleasant as lavender.

But I saw tourists taking photos and playing in the sage field, and they were almost always talking about lavender.

But it was obviously the same plant as the one my best friend found, it was sage. It can be seen how difficult it is to distinguish between blue sage and lavender.

Although they are both in the Lamiaceae family, with whorls of inflorescences, the petals of sage are significantly lip-shaped and have obvious bracts, while the flowers of lavender are small bulging packets. Moreover, they can be easily distinguished by their taste.

Sage is a plant that has gradually become popular in my country in recent years. It is an exotic species and is native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean coast. Whether as a horticultural cultivated species, an ornamental flower plant, or an emerging spice on the Chinese table, sage can play a big role.

Sage is an annual or perennial aromatic plant of the Lamiaceae family. It is an evergreen, small subshrub with woody stems, gray-green leaves, and blue to blue-purple flowers.

There are many varieties of sage, some are used to extract essential oils, some are used as spices, and some can be hallucinogenic. Do not use them lightly before determining the variety.

There are three types of sage that are widely known, clary sage, ornamental sage, and my favorite, sage used as a spice.

Good-quality clary sage has complex molecules, delicate smell, and rich layers, and has been compared to muscadine. Because of its significant skin care effect, it is often used to extract essential oils to maintain skin and soothe emotions.

Fresh sage flowers and leaves are also a great flower choice for those who like vanilla bubble baths.

Ornamental sage has beautiful flowers and leaves, and is evergreen. Like lavender, it is a pleasant ornamental plant. Then there is sage, which is closely related to people's daily life and used as a spice.

Sage is one of my favorite herbs. It is the most indispensable herb in my daily diet for marinating poultry and baking. Because it has the bitter taste of grass, strong aroma and slightly astringent taste, it is a good choice for pickling poultry with a strong fishy smell. It can remove fishy smell and increase freshness and fragrance, which is surprising.

Sage is an emerging spice on the Oriental table. People use its fresh evergreen leaves as a garnish or as an auxiliary spice for pork, fish, vegetables or gravy.

Sage goes well with poultry. The fresh leaves play a magical role in roasting poultry. We often put fresh sage leaves under the meat when roasting poultry. , with both color and fragrance, it is a very unique vanilla.

Sage is also a good companion to dairy products and greasy foods, and is sometimes added to wine, beer, tea and vinegar. Secondly, it is also excellent when used in Western stews and pizza. However, sage has a strong flavor, so you shouldn’t use too much, lest one ingredient overwhelms the flavor of the other ingredients.

Sage, used as a spice, can instantly add flavor to food. In addition to aiding digestion, it can also calm and relieve fever, and has health-preserving effects.

There are many Lamiaceae plants that are as fragrant as sage and are used as human spices. Basil, rosemary, thyme, and motherwort are all indispensable herbs for people.

As a large plant category, the Lamiaceae family includes many of our common vanilla plants. Lamiaceae vanilla is an ancient existence, and its use as vanilla has entered the history of literature, art and food, probably starting from ancient Greece. Ancient Greeks used fresh herbs to stew vegetable soups, season beef and mutton, and roast meats.

The reason why the Lamiaceae family is called Lamiaceae is because its flowers are unusually radial and symmetrical. The front end of the corolla extends like a lip. The stems are quadrangular and the whole plant is densely covered with glands, exuding an unforgettable strong aroma.

If you look carefully and open the sage flower, you can see its remarkable two-strong stamen-like lever structure. This is the result of a high degree of co-evolution with insects, allowing insects that fly in to collect nectar to pick up pollen more easily. Greatly improves pollination rates, allowing the sage family to continue for a long time.

Spices from the Lamiaceae family are not only widely used in the West, they are also commonly found in the East, but more often they are used elsewhere.

Prunella vulgaris and mint are still used in many herbal tea recipes. Basil is still an indispensable herb when frying conches and clams, as well as making the traditional dish of three-cup chicken. Perilla is often used to cook fish, and is also steamed with hairy crabs. It can remove fishy smell, relieve dryness, increase fragrance and improve freshness. I believe people who have eaten it will be deeply impressed.

Sage and its close relatives Lamiaceae are eternal friends of mankind. They not only enrich people's dining tables, but also brighten people's lives.

Vanilla uses its own fragrance and God-given vitality and energy to inject freshness and romance into complicated life. Like a trickling clear spring, it flows through people's body and mind, possessing the power of gentleness and purification.

Being able to accompany vanilla every day is what I think is a beautiful life.

Bu Bai Hua Shi Tang 2015.10.21