Saturday, January 17, 2015

Learning More Uses of a Favorite Plant: Pineapple Sage

I was looking through the photos of my garden from November (which I have yet to post on my blog) and came across my Pineapple Sage. It is a fav or mine because it provides a bright red pop to my drab fall garden.


I have to admit, when I first planted it, I had no idea that it was a perennial and would come back every year. What a happy surprise that was. I have had it for at least five years now and it is incredibly reliable and has yet to show any signs of pests or disease. Growing this plant couldn’t be easier: it is incredibly care-free. I do absolutely nothing to it except to cut it back in the early spring. It is about 4-5 feet tall and full of foliage and blooms every year. In some ways I wish it would bloom earlier so that the hummingbirds could enjoy it, but then it wouldn’t liven up my drab, late fall garden like it does now.

When you rub the leaves of the Pineapple Sage, it smells exactly as you think it would: like pineapple mixed with sage. I have to be honest, I have never used any because I was not exactly sure what it would go with. I decided to do some online searching. I found some interesting information and recipes on Backyard Patch Herbal Blog. The blogger mentions using stems in summer drinks. Now that sounds like a great idea! She also mentions using chopped leaves in salsa and in chicken dishes. A mango (or pineapple) and avocado salsa with Pineapple Sage leaves might be nice, now that I think of it. She has recipes on her blog for Pineapple Sage Smoothies, Pineapple Sage Pound Cake, and Pineapple Sage and Ginger Chicken. I will have to try me some of those. There are also several ideas on Pinterest. Adding Pineapple Sage to some of Babble website’s detox waters would be good, I would think. The Adventures in Making blog has this awesome-sounding drink recipe: Blackberry + Pineapple Sage Soda. I should’ve done my research earlier so I could’ve enjoyed some of those great-sounding recipes before the frost killed my plant! Alas, I will have to wait until next year to try them. Better make myself a note so that I don’t forget.


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