Mysterious Pineapple Sage

Did I ever tell you that Kyle & I started our very own make shift garden? Apart from living in a beautiful place, being near farm animals on a daily basis, and seeing the most crystal clear stars, our other daydream of New Zealand was raising a garden.  Here are some of the babies:

And while I love each of them, the apple of my eye is by far the Thai basil, who is hard to find in grocery stores & expensive. OF COURSE Thai basil is the one taking it’s sweet time growing.  Pineapple Sage is thriving, the onlyplant I have absolutely no idea what to do with.

There are only two things I know when thinking about Sage

(1) It’s the name of my cat back home – she’s an amazing cat, by the way. I wish I had a picture to show you. The only pictures I have are of our cat Thorsten, who appears to be the photogenic out of the two.

(2) Used when cleansing spaces.

I read somewhere to put it in salsa or as an herbal tea, but what else? I googled around and here are some of the interesting finds:

According to www.herbcompanion.com, “It’s a taste of the tropics for temperate gardeners. Just close your eyes and crush a leaf under your nose: the fragrance is unexpected and exotic. What better garnish for a frosty piña colada or glass of iced tea than a fresh sprig of fruit-scented pine­apple sage? And beyond its olfactory bouquet, the autumn flowers that burst upon the scene with show-stopping drama deserve a place of prominence in the garden (or in a sunny window, if your growing season is short).”

Wikipedia was useful too. “Pineapple sage is extensively used in Mexican traditional medicine, especially for the treatment of anxiety. Although scientific information about these medicinal properties is scarce, a preliminary study on mice found support for the plant potentially having antidepressant and anti-anxiety properties”.

Well this will be interesting to play around with.  If anyone has any other suggestions, I would absolutely appreciate it!