SANDWICHED INTO A vacant lot between two apartment buildings in
downtown Salt Lake City, an herb garden flourishes. Passersby can
glimpse cinnamon basil and bronze fennel where they might have
expected to see weeds and rubble. The plot, maintained by students
in the Beehive Chefs Association training program for professional
chefs, is a learning ground for the art of growing and using fresh
herbs. To gain certification from the chef organization, students
must spend some time working in this garden.
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In the culinary business, a good working relationship with fresh
herbs is a decided advantage. The chefs’ garden is part of a larger
community garden that adds greenery to a downtown sea of concrete
and automobiles. This amiable arrangement is made possible by the
University of Utah, which owns the land and lends it to the Beehive
Chefs apprentices and other Salt Lake gardeners. The chef
organization, a chapter of the American Culinary Federation, pays
for the water to maintain the herb garden, which was first planted
about ten years ago. There are currently sixty-six students in the
two- and three-year culinary programs.
“The garden is basically a learning experience so the students
can see what the herbs look like, what they smell like, what they
taste like, of course, and how to grow them and use them,” says
Barry Knabe, a sous-chef for a downtown bank who was introduced to
the garden when he was a chef-in-training. He has been involved in
various capacities with the garden ever since and is often there
now to buy fresh herbs for meals he prepares for bank officials and
important clients.
Besides being sniffed, touched, and tasted by the student chefs
and used in their classes, herbs from the garden are sold to an
herb retailer who distributes them to area restaurants and
supermarkets. The money raised by the garden, which last year
netted about $1400, underwrites a scholarship for a worthy culinary
student and pays for needed equipment and plant starts.
A wide diversity of herbs grows in the Beehive Chefs’ four
plots, each measuring about 12 by 30 feet: many varieties of thymes
and sages, lavender, tarragon, chives and garlic chives, Greek
oregano and marjoram, spearmint and peppermint, lovage, curly and
flat-leaved parsleys, and enough basil to pesto a city.
“We can sell as much basil as we can grow,” Knabe says. Among
the varieties represented are Dark Opal, Purple Ruffles, sweet
basil, Spicy Globe, lemon basil, and licorice and cinnamon
basils.
Rows and rows of basil cast their late-afternoon shadows
on one of the Beehive Chefs’ gardening plots.
Knabe says that many of the students start out with little or no
familiarity with fresh herbs. As he takes them around the garden,
he picks up a leaf or sprig and asks them what it is. Then he has
them close their eyes as he pinches a leaf under their noses.
“Memorize the smell,” he tells them. Last, he has them taste the
leaves. Every time Knabe works in the garden, he puts the
apprentices through the same drill: look at this, smell it, name
it.
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