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Hi all,

I am a part time student at Salford University doing my BSc in Food Industry management. I am about to embark on my dissertaion which I want to to on Sensory analysis of sauasges using both dried and fresh herbs. I was wondering if anyone had any info as amount of the weights of dried and fresh herbs i.e if recipe asked for 2g dried parsley what would be the equivalant weight of fresh parsely. I dont think I am explaining myself very well but hope someone out there will know what I am taling about. Also if anyone has doen something similar would like to get in touch maybe

Thanks

DARTON33 wrote::?:

Hi all,

I am a part time student at Salford University doing my BSc in Food Industry management. I am about to embark on my dissertaion which I want to to on Sensory analysis of sauasges using both dried and fresh herbs. I was wondering if anyone had any info as amount of the weights of dried and fresh herbs i.e if recipe asked for 2g dried parsley what would be the equivalant weight of fresh parsely. I dont think I am explaining myself very well but hope someone out there will know what I am taling about. Also if anyone has doen something similar would like to get in touch maybe

Thanks

Welcome, my sister is very high up in the Poker rankings at your place.
Anyway if you have difficulty in explaining, it won't help with your dissertation.
For what it's worth use half the weighed amount of dried herbs as against fresh herbs.
If you are using fresh herbs in a sausage recipe, use a high speed bowl cutter initially to break them down, then add the rest of the mix on a lower speed. Don't forget that using 'fresh' herbs will normally result in a shorter shelf life.

Really depends on the herb doesn't it? I mean compare something like parsley to oregano or thyme. I suspect it has something to do with the essential oils which remain after dehydration. Something like oregano will have more than parsley.

When I add fresh hebs I chop them finely with a knife and then grind them in a mortar and pestle with the salt to be added. This elimanates woody bits (important with hard leafed herbs such as rosemary) and also the salt will kill most of the nasties that might be on the plant, so they retain shelf-life.
As porkerpete says, the general rule of thumb is to use half the amount of dried, but it depends very much on the age of the herb. The flavouring elements are usually volatile oils, so as they age they loose flavour. At six months old, most dried herbs and spices are worthless.


Good luck with the dissertation.

Hi Darton33

I don't know any more than has already been posted but would be interested in your findings. I graduated from Salford in 1980 with a degree in Bio-Medical Electronics, not used much of the bio bit of the degree. The electronics are still used when integrating software onto various mobile phone hardware platforms.

Good luck with the dissertation.

Cheers Stu

I buy my spices online from this outfit in the states:

www.penzeys.com

They have equivalens of dry to fresh herb usage. Another relevant factor is humidity. You meassure less dry herb by weight (and volume) because most of the water content has evaporated (and hence it's weight and volume).

David