I'm a cook - not a chef but a cook. And I absolutely love to work with fresh herbs and spices when I have them. I'm curious what herbs you find you must have available for cooking. Keep it to your top 5 (if possible). My list:

1. thyme
2. parsley
3. basil
4. rosemary
5. chives

Pretty boring - standard American/Italian cuisine. You?

My list is the same as yours if you take out parsley and add tarragon.

I love cooking with my herbs:

Winter savory in eggs, soups, nearly everything

Lime basil for fish, chicken, and spagetti sauce

Oregano in nearly every pan

Lemon verbina or lemon grass with fish and chicken

Sweet bay in beens and rice and seafood

Gettin kinda hungry here.

Peace

Garlic, Galangal, Sage, cardamom, cumin, cloves, basil, chives, nutmeg, mace, catnip, mint, lemon balm, ginger, dill, parsley, coriander/cilantro, fennel, lavender, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, paprika, saffron, and poppy seeds are among the most frequently used around here.

Garlic is herb? Around my house it's a main course!

LOL...I'd have to agree, I think I've used it in everything but dessert...and I may have inadvertantly included it in dessert, too...I love fresh pickled garlic, olives stuffed with garlic, roasted garlic spread on bread, garlic stuffed chicken, and every once in a while, just a clove of garlic, crunchy and fresh peeled.

I love herbs too. We named our Koi and Goldfish ...Parsley
Sage
Thyme
Taragon
Basil
Sage
Lavender
Mint
Winter Savory
Summer Savory
Bay
Verbina
Rosemary
Cilantro

But my favorite herbs totaste is Cilantro for raw Mexician dish's like Cervechi
I love Mexican Oregano it is so much different than plain Oregano
Lavender is wonderful!! I made a Strawberry Lavender Sorbet last fall and it was to Plow the back 40 with ! WOW it madeyou feel good!!
Chichory is great for the coffee to go with the Sorbet
and then I bite the Garlic! t

DW loves Basil;! She is a basil and tomato lover

OH By the way after this season our 14 fish will multiply again so more herbs will being moving around out Pond pot!
I love it

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme--no, wait, that was a song.

parsley
sweet basil
marjoram
rosemary
cilantro

Well, if garlic indeed counts as an herb, then it's number one on my list (in that case, is *chocolate* an herb?!?--No, wait, I don't *cook* with it anyway, I just eat it. :-)).

Basil is essential. Life without pesto, unthinkable!

Must have cilantro (hated it as a kid, love it now!)

Can't live without oregano.

Cinnamon is a spice & not an herb, I guess...

Oh, I know!! Mint, any kind (I grow several varieties).

Wow, that's a lot for somebody who's not really a cook (other than pesto-making. I could happily make pesto even if I'm tired or in a bad mood.). I'm more of a cookie-baker, really. :-)

What do use lavander in?

Lavender is a comfortin herb Seep it in tea with lemon
soak it in a sinple syrup for sorgets
or icecreams
Use it like vanilla Let the leaves sit in a covered dish with white sugar for a few days and the sugar will be a a lavender sugar. and sprinkle on your berries
Put in in your bath (If you drink your bath water THEN DON'T PUT TOO MUCH) it sure feels good ON THE BODY SOAKING IN IT it sure feels good soaking in it

I also seep it in water/sprite when I bake a pound cake the liquid for the cake and use that lavender water and WOW what a treat you will taste. Try it. Lavender is good for sweets it complements the sugar effect and the smell! is Georgia Heavenly

I've never figured out what to do with tarragon or marjoram. They baffle me. I've only seen tarragon in vinegars and marjoram - well - I can't even think of a recipe that includes it. What am I missing here?!

In sprite? Goodness - let's have that pound cake recipe!

I'm not really into EATING my herbs, for some reason. But I enjoy growing them for both their visual impact and pest deterrence among my veggies.

That said, I MUST have in the garden or house:

BAY (small potted tree, harvested to within an inch of its life)

BASIL (companions for tomatoes, occasionally used in cooking)

PARSLEY (I eat this one)

CORIANDER (aka "Chinese parsley" -- I cook quite a bit of Chinese food, and it's a great companion plant for potatoes)

CHIVES (they're pretty when they flower, they're hard to kill, and you can mow them down with impunity)

I pot up any onions that have sprouted on the kitchen counter, so I have fresh onion greens all year round.

The other herbs I don't use so much, and keep them on the spice rack. I'm not a gourmand, just a gardener. Can't have time for both!

Thanks! I'll try those ideas.