What can I do with herbs that are past their best?
Joe, by email
Happily, Joe and his on-the-turn herbs aren’t short of options. “The obvious choice for hard herbs is to chuck them in a sandwich bag and freeze them for future stock-making,” says Alice Norman, founder of regenerative bakery Pinch in Suffolk. Alternatively, Sami Tamimi, author of Boustany, would be inclined to dry his excess herbs. In summer, he’d simply pop them on a tray and put them outside in the sun, but right now he “dries them in a 60-70C oven, then packs in containers, ready for the next time you’re short of fresh herbs”.

Norman’s current MO is to blitz languishing herbs (“rosemary and/or thyme work best”) with a 3:4 ratio of fine salt. “You don’t want too many herbs, because that will throw off the moisture content and turn the mix black, but you need enough for the blades to catch and break down the rosemary properly.” Pulse until fine, then store in an airtight jar in the fridge (where it’ll keep for a month or so). “That can be used for so many things, from seasoning game to roast potatoes, and it works particularly well in bread.” To which end, take any focaccia recipe, boost it with mashed potato and replace the required salt with the herby salt: “The potato helps retain moisture, while the rosemary salt adds fragrance.”

An even easier route for past-their-best herbs, Tamimi says, is to get them in a chilled yoghurt soup, or any yoghurty dip, really. In a similar vein, Ethan Pack, head chef at Three Sheets in Soho, London, puts them to work in hummus, though purists had better look away now. “Make a herb oil first and use that in the base of the hummus, or blitz the herbs with the chickpeas, tahini, etc,” he says. “If I’m feeling fancy, I might also use the herbs to make a compound butter or fridge-raid chimichurri.”

Joe could also keep sad herbs sweet by using them to infuse cream. If you have thyme – or, even better, lemon thyme – Norman suggests trying this: “Warm cream until it’s gently steaming, then add the thyme, though remember that a small bunch goes a long way.” Turn off the heat, cover, leave to infuse for an hour or two, then strain and discard the solids. “Chill the cream, then, to serve, whip softly with golden icing sugar – that pairs beautifully with a rhubarb and apple cobbler, for instance.”

Don’t let those stalks go to waste, either. For Norman dill and tarragon stems are especially golden. “I keep a bottle of vinegar for each herb in the fridge, and top them up with the stems as I go – just make sure the vinegar covers them.” Give the dill vinegar a whirl in tzatziki, say, and the tarragon version in a béarnaise. If you want to get a bit cheffy, Norman says, turn parsley stalks into fake “capers”: “Dissolve 40g fine salt in 500ml water, cool completely, then add parsley stalks chopped to roughly the size of small capers.” Get that in the fridge quick-smart and it’ll be good to go in a couple of days, ready to bring “a bright tang to anything that needs a lift”. And we could all do with a bit of that right now.

The Guardian

The Middle East conflict has disrupted trade through the Strait of Hormuz and its impact could ripple far beyond the energy markets, risking a spike in global food prices.

The strait is not only a key artery for oil and gas shipments but also for fertilizers critical to global agriculture. Analysts told CNBC disruptions could feed through to higher farming costs, reduced crop yields and ultimately more expensive food.

“Higher energy and input costs risk reigniting global food inflation just as retail food prices had returned to more historical levels in many countries,” according to the International Food Policy Research Institute, or IFPRI.

Raj Patel, a research professor at the University of Texas, also warned that fertilizer disruptions linked to the conflict could amplify global food pressures through several channels simultaneously.

“The short answer is: significant, and faster than people think,” Patel said. “The Strait of Hormuz is a fertilizer chokepoint. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Iran together supply a substantial share of the world’s traded urea and phosphates, and virtually all of it transits Hormuz.”

Countries dependent on food imports directly as well as those reliant on fertilizers could face rising costs within weeks, particularly during key planting periods, said industry watchers.

Gulf countries face: immediate risk

The first region likely to feel the impact includes countries closest to the conflict.

“Regionally, consumers in the GCC are most exposed to short-term food price spikes due to their heavy reliance on maritime imports transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” said Bin Hui Ong, commodities analyst at BMI.

Arabian Gulf economies such as Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia rely heavily on food imports shipped through the Strait of Hormuz. If shipping remains constrained, supplies would need to be rerouted through alternative corridors or transported overland at far higher cost, analysts said.

“When it comes to short term shortages, all countries around the Persian gulf west of Hormuz will struggle to get food imports in,” Mera said. “These countries will need to find alternative routes.”

He noted that wealthier states such as Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have the financial resources to import food by air or overland routes if necessary, but poorer neighbors may struggle more.

“Iraq may suffer. Iran itself will also face scarcity,” Mera added.

Sub-Saharan Africa: most vulnerable

Beyond the Gulf region, the greatest risks may lie in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, where farmers depend heavily on imported fertilizer and households spend a large share of income on food.

“Sub-Saharan Africa is the most vulnerable region,” said Patel. Data from the University of Texas at Austin shows that over 90% of the fertilizer consumed in sub-Saharan Africa is imported, mostly from outside the continent.
Nitrogen-intensive crops such as maize, a key staple across the region, are especially sensitive to fertilizer shortages, raising the risk of lower harvests and rising food prices, other experts highlighted.

“The poorest and most densely populated regions are likely to suffer the most,” said Rabobank’s Mera, including parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

Asian concerns

South and Southeast Asia could also face mounting cost pressures.

Major agricultural economies such as India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Indonesia rely heavily on imported fertilizers from the Gulf. A sustained disruption could drive up costs for farmers during key planting seasons.

“A farmer in Thailand who is 90% import-dependent, buying urea that’s made from gas, shipped through Hormuz, and priced in dollars that are strengthening because of geopolitical risk, faces a cost shock on every dimension simultaneously,” Patel said.

Staples in the region, which include rice and maize are among the most fertilizer-intensive crops.

Mera singled out Indonesia and Bangladesh among those likely to be worst affected in the region.

Longer-term view

If farmers respond to higher fertilizer prices by reducing its use, crop yields could decline and push food prices higher.

Brazil, one of the world’s largest agricultural exporters, could face rising costs if fertilizer markets tighten, said analysts. Brazil imports around 85% of its fertilizer, making its soybean and maize production highly dependent on global supply chains.

A prolonged disruption during Brazil’s key fertilizer import season could ripple through global crop markets, eventually impacting food prices.

Even if crop output remains relatively stable in the near term, rising energy costs alone could drive food inflation higher globally, experts said.

Energy plays a major role throughout the food supply chain, from powering farm machinery and producing fertilizers to transporting crops and processing them into food products.

“The bigger impact on consumer prices will not be the impact on agricultural commodities but the fact that energy is a big portion of the total retail food bill,” said Joseph Glauber, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Chris Barrett, an agricultural economist at Cornell University, said the scale of any price shock will depend heavily on how long shipping disruptions persist.

CNBC

The war in Iran could raise global food prices as the conflict disrupts fertilizer shipments through one of the world’s most critical trade routes.

While energy markets have focused on oil supply risks, analysts say threats to fertilizer supply chains through the Strait of Hormuz may also bring long-term economic issues through food inflation.

“Beyond energy, another risk receiving less attention is the potential knock-on effect on food prices, as fertilizer shortages push agricultural costs higher,” said Wolfe Research chief economist Stephanie Roth in a note written on Tuesday.

Roth estimates the disruption could raise “food-at-home” inflation by roughly 2 percentage points, adding about 0.15 percentage points to headline inflation in the U.S., on top of roughly 0.40 percentage point increase from energy.

Those potential price hikes come as U.S. consumers face a sustained stretch of higher prices for food, housing and energy. Inflation for food at home climbed 2.4% year over year in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday.

More than one-third of globally traded fertilizer passes through the Strait of Hormuz, making it a critical artery for agricultural supply chains. Commercial traffic through the route has largely been halted since the war started late last month, disrupting shipments just as farmers across the Northern Hemisphere prepare fields for spring planting.

The timing is critical because fertilizers are applied early in the crop cycle and help determine yields later in the year.

“If fertilizer supply tightens during this window, farmers may reduce application rates,” Roth said in the note. That could reduce yields for crops like corn, soybeans, wheat and rice, and increase agricultural costs.

Economists in the fertilizer industry are equally concerned and say prices are already rising.

Between the weeks ending Feb. 27 and March 6 — which encompass the start of the war — the price per short ton of urea fertilizer imports in the U.S. jumped by 30%, according to data collected by industry advocacy group The Fertilizer Institute.

Urea — a nitrogen-based fertilizer widely used to boost crop yields — is one of the most heavily traded fertilizers moving through the region.

Higher fertilizer prices for farmers and retailers could ultimately raise food costs for consumers if the trade disruption lasts, said Veronica Nigh, chief economist at The Fertilizer Institute.

“This is a global impact on fertilizer costs,” said Nigh. “I would imagine that there would be much more passing on of these costs to consumers in this scenario, which is not something we have seen before.”

The U.S. relies on global fertilizer markets, importing roughly 20% of its total use, though nitrogen fertilizers like urea come from a more wide-ranging group of suppliers, including Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Russia and elsewhere.

The ripple effect could stretch around the world and beyond commodities. Asia and Africa are especially dependent on fertilizer exports from the Gulf region. Countries such as India rely heavily on Gulf supplies, while several African economies depend on imported materials used to produce fertilizers.

While disruptions to fertilizer shipments could lower crop yields for farmers and raise costs for households, fertilizer producers could stand to benefit.

CF Industries hit an all-time high Monday and shares are up nearly 10% over the past week, the company’s biggest multiday gain since 2022.

CNBC