French Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus) Also known as Estragon. A half-hardy perennial, growing to about 60cm high and 45cm wide. Has long, fibrous roots spreading by runners. Leaves have an Anise-like flavour and are much used in French cuisine. Woody stems are covered with lance-shaped, thin, blue-green leaves about 5cm long. Flowers are small and greenish-white, and are seldom fully opened. French Tarragon rarely sets seed,and much of the seed is sterile. It is generally propagated by stem cuttings, taken in early spring. You can distinguish French Tarragon (as opposed to Russian Tarragon or Winter Tarragon) in a taste test. When you taste the leaves of French Tarragon, you get an astonishing tongue-numbing effect. Russian Tarragon is very similar to French Tarragon in appearance, but it has a dubious sort of flavour, and it self-seeds readily, and can become a weed in no time flat. It's also taller than French Tarragon. Winter Tarragon is Tagetes lucida, also known by many other names including Mexican Marigold Mint, Cloud Plant or Yerba anis. It makes a reasonable flavour substitute for French Tarragon, but the tongue-numbing effect is considerably reduced. The leaves of this plant are greener than the green-grey colour of French Tarragon. And it's easier to grow in warmer climates.

Elisa, My DH has health problems and we actually have a slightly lower target than your brother's. It seems insurmountable at first, especially when it can't be eased into. If you've got a low-salt diet order, and judging by the ICD implantation, kidney issues, etc., I can guess what you're dealing with, you need to get it in place ASAP. Or your brother will be right back where he started from. The need for rapid change is one of the biggest challenges because it takes awhile for a lowered-salt diet to taste good again. It will get better as you will adjust, but most people eat four or five times that amount, daily. So even thogh 1500 mg/d doesn't sound much less than official ideal for non-impaired people, it's a huge functional and taste change for most people. I know, because we've BTDT. OK, here's some quick tips: almost all prepared food will put you in trouble, unless you only eat once per day. And if he's got diabetes that won't work. By prepared food I mean almost all restaurant food, especially fast food. Almost all canned and frozen prepared stuff, including most stuff marketed as "healthy" prepared food. (There are exceptions, you'll have to read label after label to find the keepers.) Often the lowered sodium product isn't either truly low (300 mg, or less, per portion) or they make it up by loading it with carbs. Here are a couple of good things that are mainstays in our house for fast eats: some of the Imagine Organic aseptic packaged LOWER IN SODIUM soups (corn or sweet potato=140 mg/cup). Other lower in sodium aseptic packaged soups may or may not work for you. (We like some tomato, some roasted pepper, etc. you have to read the labels.) Muir Glen makes a good line of no salt added canned tomato products which are great, esp. the fire roasted ones. Most commercial low or no salt bread sucks, to put it plainly. This is where making your own really is better. But salt has a functional role in bread-making, in addition to its taste role, so you will need to expect to have some trouble adapting "regular" recipes simply by leaving out the salt. Try some of the specifically low-sodium bread recipes for starters. Also if you buy unsliced bread, you can slice it thinner than normal and work the total sodium down that way, at least a bit. No-salt cheese is mostly bad; swiss is naturally low (60-80mg/oz) so it's a my go-to cheese. I do use (sparingly) higher sodium cheeses (e.g. Piave cheddar which can be as high as 500+ mg/oz when all I want is to grate some up as a topping. Then the portion is so small it's OK, and the sharp, rich taste really makes a difference.) You can make good grilled cheese sandwiches with Swiss cheese, too. Use a sharper mustard, for extra taste. For cottage cheese get some no-salt added tubs and cut it 50% with the higher salted product. That produces an acceptable level. Watch frozen veg. products, even some of the un-sauced ones often have baking soda (aka SODIUM bicarbonate) added to preserve the green color, which turns a nearly sodium-free item into something you have to "count". If you need to eat out, go to a restaurant and ask for plain grilled chicken, never seasoned and grilled on a scraped grill. Ask if the veg. were precooked, if so ask that they be rinsed in a hot water and then briefly re-nuked. Most pasta is out because it often has been parboiled in salted water. (You don't need to add salt to pasta if you cook it at home. Never mind what the cook books say.) For nation-wide family restuarant chains when ttraveling, we've had good luck with Ruby Tuesdays. They are usually quite accommodating, and the big salad bar is good, too. There are many, if not most, recipes that you will read in cooking mags and books that will have a sodium content that's way out of your range. But you can always bring that salt way down by not adding it, or adding a lot less. You will have some big recipe failures this way but you will learn what works for you. Your brother's Dr. probably told him this: DO NO USE LITE-SALT or SALT SUBSTITUTES. These usually contain potassium "salts" instead of sodium and they will mess things up on the other end (as well as possibly interfere with some of his meds - ACE/ARBS, diuretics, etc.) These products are meant for people who are just "cutting down" salt, not for people at risk of CHF. It's no picnic dealing with a low-salt, most likely very low-fat, diabetic diet (And maybe also low Vitamin K, as well?). It takes a huge , constant vigilance to put it in place successfully. Your brother will need a lot of help, especially if these are sudden changes, in order for it to not become overwhelming. As JohnLiu says most things that are "too salty" can be made at home. But it's a completely different culinary regimen, because even many certifiably homemade dishes contain ingredients that are very salty to begin with. And it takes a lot more time and effort. Can you give me some idea what you're trying to accomplish, right now? What sorts of meals are you trying to prepare? I may be able to make some specific suggestions. In the meantime, you can't go wrong with broiled chicken or fish, steamed veg, small baked sweet potato and salad for dinner. For lunch a truly lower-salt soup (or big salad), and an egg or tuna or chicken salad sandwich, and fruit for dessert. And maybe regular oatmeal and fruit for breakfast. This would leave you some pretty useful lee-way to add some other tasty, higher-salt add-ons: cheese, lightly salted pop-corn, regular (not homemade low salt for the time being) whole-wheat bread, etc. Possibly some diabetic-OK cookies or icecream; prepared chocolate soy-pudding is a nice snacky-thing, but I'm not sure if it fits with diabetic diets. I remember standing in my supermarket when this was a new thing for me and feeling that nothing I could make would be safe for my husband. I actually cried right in the aisle, I was so upset. We ate pretty simple, even primitive, meals for awhile early on - and I've thrown out a lot of tried-but-turned-out-to-be ghastly recipes. But it does get easier when you learn how to cheat out the excess salt and still go for the familiar flavors. While the prospect of learning a whole new taste-profile can be interesting, in the abstract, familiar tastes and dishes are very comforting and even necessary, IMO for healing. You just need to keep tweaking it until you've got it right. It does get better. L

Barb, as others have pointed out, most salt substitutes contain potassium chloride. For a healthy person, ingesting a bit of extra potassium is no problem. However, many people who are placed on low sodium diets have serious health problems and take several medications that must be balanced with their diet. For example, my husband is on a salt-restricted diet and takes diuretics, including a potassium-sparing one, along with coumadin and other cardiac-related medications. So he has to monitor his intake of green-leafy vegetables and avoid salt substitutes. When he was first diagnosed with congestive heart failure, his cardiologist told him NOT to use any salt substitutes. Sometimes people with CHF and other heart-related health issues also have reduced kidney function, so that precludes them from using potassium chloride based salt substitutes. The article below explains things well: From the Harvard School of Public Health: REDUCED OR NO-SODIUM SALTS Potassium chloride tastes a lot like sodium chloride, and is the main ingredient in reduced- or no-salt substitutes. It has a bitter aftertaste, especially when heated, and so isnâÂÂt recommended for cooking. Some companies add L-lysine, a common amino acid, to mask or neutralize the bitter taste. Sodium-free substitutes contain 100 percent potassium chloride, while âÂÂliteâ salts replace up to half of the table salt with potassium chloride. Because most Americans get too little potassium, using a potassium-based salt substitute could offer some small protection against high blood pressure, stroke, heart rhythm problems, kidney trouble, and even osteoporosis. (But not nearly as much as cutting back on sodium, not smoking, and exercising!) It isnâÂÂt for everyone, though. Check with your doctor before trying a potassium-based salt substitute. Most people can tolerate extra potassium, and actually need more of this mineral. But extra potassium can be dangerous for people who have trouble flushing out any excess or who are taking medications that can increase potassium levels in the bloodstream. This includes people with diabetes or kidney disease, those who have had a blocked urinary flow, or those taking a potassium-sparing diuretic, an ACE inhibitor, or an angiotensin-receptor blocker. Here is a link that might be useful: Harvard School of Public Health - Salt Substitutes

Thanks for posting this. It's nice to see you here. Never can get collards here, though. I bet this really sticks to your ribs!