Homemade Buttermilk Ranch with Gourmet Garden

How would you like to get a package like this in the mail?

That’s right, Walmart and Gourmet Garden sent me their entire line of herbs to play with! Aren’t they pretty?

So what are Gourmet Garden herbs? Well they are the solution to the problem of keeping fresh (and organic!) herbs on hand without having them go bad.  That’s why their motto is “Fresh made easy!”

Our herbs are grown in the rich soil of organic farms on the Sunshine Coast of Australia. Within 24 hours of harvesting they are simply washed, chopped, blended and packed into tubes guaranteeing their fresh taste and nutrition for up to 3 months. Gourmet Garden’s wide range of herbs including Basil, Cilantro, Chili Pepper, Dill, Garlic, Ginger, Italian Herbs, Lemon Grass, Parsley and Oregano can be found in the fresh produce section of your local supermarket. . . Gourmet Garden is free from genetically modified foods and is also MSG free.

These herbs stay fresh and ready to use for 90 days as long as they are kept capped and refrigerated.  To extend their shelf life even more (especially on your less used spices like lemon grass) they can be stored in the freezer–that will extend their life at least another 3 months.  Just take them out of the freezer and let them thaw a few minutes on the counter and you should be able to squeeze and use right away!

You use these herbs 1:1 to regular herbs.  So for example if a recipe calls for 1 TBS of parsley you use 1 TBS of Gourmet Garden Parsley.  You use it in a proportion of 3:1 for dried herbs, so if a recipe calls for 1 tsp of powdered ginger use 3 tsp of Gourmet Garden Ginger.

I haven’t tried every single one yet (I’m excited to find a recipe that needs lemongrass so I can try that one!)–so I asked on Facebook for feedback from folks wh0 have tried it.  I had a bunch of folks who already use and love this line of herbs.  The only one that got rather “meh” reports was the cilantro.  At least two folks told me that they felt it wasn’t strong enough.

So to try out the spices I decided to make a lovely homemade Buttermilk Ranch Salad Dressing.  This particular recipe has a very fresh, dilly flavor.  If you aren’t a big dill fan, you are going to want to cut that down to 1 TBS.

You can find these Gourmet Garden products in the fresh produce section of your local Walmart, right near the fresh herbs!

****This is a sponsored post****

Disclosure: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received product samples and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.