Inside The Herbal Recipe Book: 6 Garden-Inspired Recipes to Try This Season

A Book Made for the Garden Kitchen

The Herbal Recipe Book began with a simple question:

What can we actually make with the herbs, flowers, tea, honey, fruit, sugar, and salt already moving through the kitchen?

The finished book is a collection of recipes meant to answer that question season after season.

It is not a medicinal guide and it does not require Hilltop products. Every recipe can be made using homegrown or food-grade culinary ingredients.

Here are six recipes I would begin with this time of year.

1. Lemon Balm & Mint Syrup

Bright, green, and made for high summer. Fresh lemon balm and mint are steeped in a simple sugar syrup that can be added to iced tea, fruit, sparkling water, or cucumber soda.

If lemon balm is overflowing in your garden right now, this is an easy way to use a generous handful.

2. Lavender-Lemon Honey

This infused honey uses completely dried lavender and dried lemon peel. The floral and citrus notes work beautifully over biscuits, goat cheese, or roasted carrots.

It is also a good example of one of the principles throughout the book: use dry botanicals when preparing honey intended for room-temperature storage.

3. Rose-Cardamom Sugar

Dried rose petals and cardamom turn ordinary sugar into a fragrant pantry ingredient.

Use it in whipped cream, sugar cookies, or over roasted summer stone fruit.

4. Rosemary-Lemon Salt

A very practical botanical pantry recipe. Dried rosemary, dried lemon peel, and coarse salt create a finishing blend for potatoes, focaccia, chicken, or vegetables.

5. Chamomile-Mint Iced Tea

Chamomile and spearmint are cold-brewed together for a gentle summer pitcher.

Add honey if you like, or leave it unsweetened and finish with fresh mint or lemon.

6. Peach-Basil Cooler

This one belongs to August. Fresh peaches and basil steep alongside black or green tea for a fruit-forward cold brew that tastes like late summer.

When peaches disappear, berries can take their place.

Begin With One Recipe

You do not need to make everything at once.

Choose one recipe that fits what is growing—or what you already have in the pantry.

Make notes.

Change it next time.

Let it become part of your own seasonal kitchen.

That is what the Herbal Recipe Book was designed for.