Culinary Uses for Clary Sage

Omelets

• Clary sage quickly loses its flavor when heated, but the floral scent adds an elegance when the leaves are are chopped and sprinkled over a freshly cooked omelet. The neutral flavor of the eggs serves as a pale background to let the flavor of the fresh clary sage shine through. This use is one of the few culinary uses of clary sage today, according to "Spices and Herbs, Lore and Cookery."

Baked Chicken

• Sage adds a rich, savory flavor to poultry, but common sage is too strong for some. Substitute milder clary sage for common sage in poultry recipes such as baked chicken, as suggested in "Seasoning Savvy: How to Cook With Herbs, Spices and Other Flavorings." Add the fresh herbs at the end of cooking to keep the flavor at its strongest. Cooking clary sage too long will cause it to lose its flavor.

Fritters

• Prepare an elegant appetizer with clary sage leaves. The large leaves at the bottom of the plant can measure up to 8 inches long and 6 inches wide. Dip these leaves in a batter made with flour thinned with milk. Fry the leaves in butter until the batter has browned and crisped. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top of the leaves and serve with orange sauce for dipping, or drizzle orange liqueur over the fritters. Serve this treat as a sweet appetizer or a light ending to a meal.

Herbal Tea

• Use the flowers from a clary sage plant to add flavor and color to an herbal tisane. To prepare the drink, drop whole clary sage flowers or their petals into a brewed cup of herbal tisane or a brewed tea just before serving. Pair the mild, floral flavor of clary sage flowers with mildly flavored floral herbs or white tea. The bold flavor of black tea could overpower the flavor and aroma of the sage flowers. Replace lavender in herbal tisane recipes with clary sage because the two share a similar flavor and aroma.

Alcoholic Drinks

• Foods and teas are not the only culinary uses for clary sage. The rich, raisiny overtones in the flavor of clary sage have resulted in its historic use in wines from the Rhine region of Germany. You can clearly see this association between clary sage and wines in the German word for clary sage, Muscateller sallier, which translates to muscatel sage.