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Preparing
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Sage
Salvia officinalis · Herb
40 pairings
Sage (Salvia officinalis) is a woody Mediterranean shrub whose soft, pebbled, grey-green leaves carry one of the most distinctive aromas in the kitchen: warm and herbal, with a cool camphor-and-eucalyptus lift, a piney resinous depth and a faintly bitter, almost medicinal edge. Common, garden or "Dalmatian" sage is the classic partner to rich, fatty foods — pork, poultry, sausage, brown butter and stuffing — where its pungency cuts through the fat. It is one of the oldest healing herbs of Europe, its very name rooted in the Latin for "to save."
Picking a good onedrag
Just cut, downy and stiffLimp, dark, scentless
Shop freshThe all-rounder: stuffing, sausage, roast pork, brown butter.Everyday best
Leaf colourGrey-green, a few yellow leaves low down
Leaf in the handSofter, but the leaf still holds its shape
Cut stemCut end drying and browned, stem still stiff
Smell at the leafScent comes with a firm rub, warm and herbal
What to look for, from just cut, downy and stiff to limp, dark, scentless.
Keeping ittap a band
A domestic fridge holds it about 3× longer than the counter.
Humidity
90-95%
90-95%, a shade drier than the soft herbs: damp enough that the leaves do not go papery, dry enough that they do not sweat.
Airflow
Perforated bag, not sealed
A perforated bag, not sealed. Shut tight the sprigs sweat and blacken; bare in the fridge they go papery in a day.
Yellows and sheds beside fruit
It makes almost none but reacts badly to it: ethylene off apples and other ripening fruit yellows sage and drops leaves from the stem.