Salad burnet

Sanguisorba minor · Herb

40 pairings

Salad burnet (Sanguisorba minor) is a small, hardy perennial herb of the rose family whose young leaves taste startlingly of cucumber. Tossed raw into salads, dressings, cold soups and herb butters, or steeped in cooling summer drinks, it was a kitchen-garden staple long before the cucumber became common in northern Europe.

Picking a good onedrag

Just cut, sprigs standing upBlackened and slimy at the tie

Bunch freshStrip the young leaflets off the midrib and chop them in late: salad, herb butter, dressing, cold soup, a jug of water. Heat drives the cucumber note straight off.Everyday best

Where it came fromFrom a kitchen garden or grower you know was never sprayed for looks

The leafletsFull-sized leaflets, still green and flat, the toothed edges crisp

A sprig in the handStands, then the tip nods over slowly

Stems and cut endsStems firm, cut ends dried and browned a few millimetres up

Flower heads, if the bunch carries themOne or two green thimble heads among mostly leafy stems

Smell of a bruised leafletQuiet cucumber with a green, faintly nutty edge

What to look for, from just cut, sprigs standing up to blackened and slimy at the tie.

Preparing