The versatile plant

Above the garden with the old fruit trees and the sculptures of rust-red steel and stone lies a peculiar smell: fresh and light, a bit like lemon ice cream. Gabriele Stoll raises her head with the straw hat from the breast-high green, in her arms a basket full of herbs. It is harvest time in the Rhine Valley. The 54-year-old strokes from top to bottom with her hand along the stem of the plant until the lance-shaped leaves of the Vervainestrauchs peel off. "You have to hold your finger," she says, forming a circle with her index finger and thumb.

An old tractor rattling up the dirt road. At the wheel is Gabriele's 81-year-old mother. Walburga Stoll helps harvest the herbs that have been popularizing her daughter in Germany for some time now.

Verveinetee is traditionally drunk in France after dinner. Also in the markets of Damascus, Tunis and Marrakech you can see everywhere the dried silvery-green leaves, which are offered in large jute sacks for sale. In Germany, the Verveine, also called lemon verbena, has fallen into oblivion. As well as the closely related, but not so aromatic vervain she was possibly valued for her medicinal properties: Verbena is said to strengthen the nerves, promote sleep and stimulate the metabolism. No one had any idea how delicious it tasted in this country. That's what Gabriele Stoll, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, wanted to change.

Her specialty is plants that keep pests away by their scent alone. She spent six years researching it in Thailand and the Philippines. After returning to her home village of Hohberg in the southwestern German Rheintal, she put on a show garden with sculptures and hundreds of unusual plants. She had also selected various lemon-like herbs, including - Verveine. When she got the plant in her hands, she was immediately fascinated. "Verveine refreshes, really inspires," says Gabriele Stoll. "Even the scent prepares a little moment of happiness, and who drinks the tea, immediately realizes that he is good." That's what anyone said, literally rubbing her favorite herb under her nose.

The enthusiasm became a business idea. Gabriele Stoll founded the company Gourveine, which sells organic tea and other products related to lemon verbena. She grows her herbs from contractors in the eastern Mediterranean and South America.

In her garden, she tests for her farmers the best plant varieties with the richest aroma, the most gentle organic farming methods and harvesting techniques. And from here she gets the fresh herbs she needs to test new ideas in the kitchen. Because only producing tea, as at the very beginning, was no longer enough for her.

"I experimented wildly," she says, smiling. First she created a syrup from the extract of fresh green leaves. Then came flavored spices, jellies, vinegar, sweets, liqueurs, and a fragrant soap. The winner last year: a refreshing sparkling wine, called Secco Cedron. And she already has something new in the works. "But I'm not talking about that yet," she says and disappears back into the lush green.

Pea and cucumber salad with steamed salmon

3 portions

Salad: 8 dried verbena tea leaves, 300 g frozen peas, 1 cucumber (450 g), 2 spring onions, 1 tbsp. Verveine jelly (or apple or quince jelly), 2 tbsp corn oil, salt, freshly ground pepper;

Fish: 300 g salmon filet (skinless), 1/2 organic lemon; 2 tablespoons crème fraîche

For the salad: Boil the leaves with 100 ml of boiling water, leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Thaw peas.
Peel the cucumber, halve lengthwise and scratch out the seeds. Slice cucumber halves. Clean the spring onions, rinse and cut into rings.
Pour the vine through a sieve (pick up the leaves). Whisk together the jelly and jelly until smooth. Stir in the oil and season the sauce with salt and pepper.
Mix the peas, cucumber slices and the salad dressing.
For the fish: Rinse the salmon fillet, pat dry with a kitchen papercloth, dice and season with salt and pepper. Spread cubes on 2 pieces of sandwich paper. Place a slice of lemon on each. Close the paper into small packets and steam the fish in a steamer for about 10 minutes. Or use the steam cooking bag (by Toppits) and cook the salmon cubes in the microwave according to the instructions on the package for about 1-2 minutes.

Kohlrabi cream soup

4 portions 12 dried verbena tea leaves, 1 kohlrabi (400 g), 1 shallot, 1 tbsp butter, 1-2 teaspoons meat paste (from the glass or granulated vegetable stock), 100 g whipped cream, verbena herb salt (or normal salt), freshly ground Pepper, a little lemon juice; maybe a pinch of sweet and sweet paprika powder

Blend the leaves of Verveine with 300 ml of boiling water and leave for 10 minutes.
Peel kohlrabi and dice. Peel the shallot, cut into fine cubes and fry in the hot butter until light yellow.
Add the kohlrabi and steam briefly. Add the verveinetee with the leaves and meat paste. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes.
Puree the soup with the hand blender. Add the cream, bring to the boil and season with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
Beat the soup once more with the hand blender, fill in soup cups and possibly dust with paprika powder. In addition: toasted bread strips
Open the packages carefully (hot steam!) And arrange the salmon on the salad.
Cut aside tea leaves into strips or finely chop. Season the crème fraîche with salt and pepper, add to the salad and sprinkle with the tea leaves.

Raspberry verbena cream

4 portions

Verveinesirup: 100 g sugar, 4 verveine tea leaves

Cream: 4 leaves white gelatine, 500 g whole milk yoghurt, 1 packet vanilla sugar, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 100 g whipping cream, 250 g raspberries

For the syrup: boil 100 ml of water and sugar and cook for 2 minutes until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the Verveine tea leaves and leave overnight.
For the cream: Soak gelatine in cold water according to the instructions in the package.
Stir together 8 tbsp of Verveinesirup and yoghurt and season with vanilla sugar and lemon juice.
Express gelatine and dissolve in a hot water bath. Stir gelatine under yoghurt cream and leave to cool.
Beat whipped cream until stiff. Read raspberries.
When the yoghurt cream starts to gel, fold in the whipped cream and half of the raspberries. Put in jars and refrigerate.
To serve garnish the cream with the remaining raspberries and add a little Verveinesirup Verveineblättern.

Tips: The syrup is also delicious in yoghurt, in creams for cake filling, in fruit salad and as a summer drink, infused with sparkling wine or cold mineral water with a piece of lemon peel.

Verveine tasting package to order ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN readers can order a verveine package at a special price of 21.50 euros including shipping. It contains: 1 x organic verveine herb jelly spicy, with chilli and ginger (125 g) 3 x organic Piccolo Secco Cedron (each 0.2 l) 1 x Organic Verveine tea (40 g, 120 cups) For: Gourveine, dr. Gabriele Stoll, Buehlengasse 2, 77749 Hohberg, Tel. 078 08/91 11 69, info@gourveine.org or via www.gourveine.org, keyword: ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN Verveine