On Sun, 13 Jan 2013 10:34:44 -0000, "Ophelia"
> wrote:

>
>
> "sf" > wrote in message
> news
> > On Sat, 12 Jan 2013 11:50:52 -0800, gtr > wrote:
> >
> >> On 2012-12-31 00:54:20 +0000, sf said:
> >>
> >> > How do commercial processors do it and how do you manage not to have a
> >> > lot the stem in with the leaves?
> >>
> >> I guess I'm missing something. We have time in the yard and I just grab
> >> a few sprigs, strip off the leaves with my fingers, chop it up and
> >> throw it in.
> >> <snip>
> >> Same with the rosemary, and just strip it off with my fingers going
> >> against the grain, but there the stems are really quite thick.
> >
> > My thyme stems are too flimsy to strip without breaking and the leaves
> > are too tiny to cut off the stem with scissors. I don't have an issue
> > with rosemary and only use the new growth when I do. I've pretty much
> > given up on using the thyme I grow, so I bought commercial and had
> > exactly the same problem.
> >
> > I posted my query because stripping it is such a PITA, so I thought
> > I'd ask. I needed fresh thyme for something that wasn't cooked, so I
> > couldn't just throw it in on the stem and fish the stems out after the
> > dish cooked. Maybe the thyme you grow is different from mine and what
> > I buy commercially, or maybe you are using a different herb and
> > thinking it's thyme. I dunno.
>
> You could use scissors if the appearance is important. If not I throw it
> all in and fish out the stems, or chop most of it up finely.
> --

O - I was making an uncooked cheese spread and didn't want any stems
in it. What I ended up doing was strip them the best I could, put the
rest, stems and all into the mini-processor and fished out the stems
that were still in grabbable lengths... I just used my fingers,
although I did think about using tweezers. Because of that fresh
thyme, it was the appetizer I put the most work into. Unfortunately,
it was the one that was liked the least because of the minute amount
of "blue" cheese I added to it. I don't remember which blue was,
probably Gorgonzola. Now I'm trying to figure out what to do with the
leftovers... or maybe I should just throw it out, because it's just
sitting there taking up refrigerator space.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.