Vanilla. Cutty looked down at it unsure of where to begin. It was a bright green and lengthy pod that looked nothing like the tiny dark brown sprinkles found inside of the vanilla ice cream at Florean Fortescue's. What do do?

"Flipnsnipwitit!" He casted on the little green pod snipping the end off and exposing the inside hoping to find the shrivley brown bean inside of it. It contained a gritty, scented material that Cutty thought looked like the dark brown sprinkles only, they were the wrong colour. So then, that green pod MUST have been the bean itself and the inside was the flavouring. Was it like a banana? Ripened until black? Cutty didn't know a good ripening charm if there was such a thing. He frowned, studying the vanilla pods more. Well, maybe he could just dry out the inside bit.

"Siccus Aerous!" He said aiming the spell over the length of the green pods and to his rather pleased surprise he had found that the spell had shriveled and browned the pod causing it to look much more like the pictures on the labels in his grandmother's kitchen. So THAT was how they got vanilla! "Siccus Aerous!" He said applying the charm to the other pod as well and then putting them into the basket of dried things.

Time to do that barbed skullcap! Only Cutty had never eaten of this herb before and he hadn't the foggiest as to what part of it would be most edible. He picked it up and brought it closer to his face, sniffed it and picked at one of the little flowers. He then put it into his mouth and noted the flavour. It was, he found a bit too bitter for his brew and he decided to try the leaves and stem, which were milder. They wouldn't interfere with the other flavourings as much and besides, the book had not mentioned the benefits of that herb coming from the blossoms. Logic.

He dried out the entire sprig and tossed it into his basket, along with the vanilla, sassafras and blueberries.