Rosemary
Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 11:38AM
Lea Blum

Sadly my rosemary kicked the bucket. I must of had it for 7 months or so. What makes it all the more disheartining is what this herb symbolizes for marriage.

"Rosemary is the symbol of remembrance and fidelity and has been used for centuries in weddings. During the middle ages all elegant weddings used rosemary as a favor for the wedding guests. Sprigs were dipped in gold, tied with a ribbon and presented to guests. It symbolized that although the bride and groom were leaving their friends and family to start a new life, they would never forget their loved ones."

 

The trick with rosemary is it needs to stay moist, it likes the sun, but you let it fry out and it's a goner; misting it, touching it and caring is what rosemary needs. I had the intentions of cooking all winter long with the stuff, but never really got much of doing anything with it.

Not too surprising, here is what I ended up with.   
I nearly dumped it in the trash but got to thinking, i'm not ready to give up on this one. 
So I pruned off the dried rosemary. 
I gave one big whiff of my hand,  and sure as before I nearly trashed this mess, but ended up saving a bunch of dried rosemary for my cabinet.
"Dried rosemary was laid in the bed linen to ensure faithfulness, and a bride who gave her husband a sprig to hold on their wedding night would ensure that he remained faithful...
Napoleon is said to have loved rosemary...and Josephine is said to have asked Napoleon to wash in rosemary water before entering her bedchamber. Napoleon obediently used 162 bottles of rosemary in the first three months of marriage."
from "Book of Rosemary" (HarperCollins Publishers)
Jackie French, Author
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