Whenever you come across a recipe that includes herbs or spices, it will usually tell you whether fresh or dried are needed.

But what if you only have fresh or only have dried?

If it is crucial to use one or the other, the recipe will usually say this up front.

Using fresh is usually only critical if:

• it is the star of the show (ie, a huge amount of basil is needed to make pesto and it must be fresh)
• it is used as a garnish that needs a lot to be used to give the finished recipe a certain flavour or texture (ie. large leafed parsley on top of pasta)

When a recipe calls for herbs or spices as a seasoning within the dish, it is usually safe to assume that either fresh or dried will work.

Some herbs and spices are a little trickier to convert and do not follow the general rule.

Here is a table outlining some of the more difficult ones.

Keep in mind that these are general guidelines. There are a few factors that will come into play when doing the conversion:

• How old are the dried spices being used (older spices become stale and lose flavour)
• What brand is being used (some brands have stronger flavour than others)

The safest thing to do is to taste as you go and add more if needed.