Most strawberry recipes start the same way: Hull the berries, trim away the leafy cap and the pale shoulder, and drop what's left into the compost without a second thought. It's such a routine motion that most people never stop to wonder what they're throwing away. Strawberry tops, as it happens, hold onto a surprising amount of the fruit's flavor and color, enough that simmering them down with sugar and water produces a vivid strawberry syrup.
The hardest part of making herb salt is deciding which herbs to use. From there, it's simple and there are endless uses. It's great sprinkled over a fried egg or a tray of roasted vegetables, it does the work of seasoning and garnish at once, and it happens to be one of the more forgiving ways to use up extra dill or parsley before either one wilts on the counter.
On Orcas Island, people show up at Audra Lawlor's door with boxes filled with plums, apples, quince, or whatever their yard gave up that week. Some of it arrives by ferry from neighboring islands, and some of it comes from folks who want nothing more than a jar of preserves in return.
