Don’t be afraid to substitute one ingredient for another. If you don’t care for the flavor of a particular herb called for in a recipe, either leave out that herb, or substitute one that you do enjoy. You may even come up with a better tasting dish than the original recipe that you were following.
Most of the lemon herbs called for in recipes can be substituted for one another. If you don’t have the exact herb called for try one of the other lemon scented herbs such as lemon balm, lemon basil, lemon thyme or lemon verbena. Lemon grass is a rather tough herb which is generally used to flavor the cooking liquid then removed prior to serving. Do not substitute lemon grass for any of the other lemon herbs.
If a recipe calls for cinnamon basil and you don’t have any on hand you can substitute the same amount of sweet basil plus 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. If a recipe calls for lemon basil you may substitute the same amount of sweet basil plus 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest.
Winter savory can be substituted for summer savory in your recipes with a little care. Summer savory is a soft stemmed annual herb whereas winter savory is a woody perennial herb. Winter savory has rather tough leaves and is best added as a small bundle of stems to your recipes which is removed prior to serving. Summer savories soft leaves can be finely chopped and mixed directly into your recipes.
You can substitute one tablespoon of fresh herb for every teaspoon of dried herb that is called for in a recipe. However, when using fresh herbs you should add them towards the end of the cooking process so that they don’t overcook and loose their flavor. Dried herbs are normally added at the beginning of the cooking process as they will survive longer cooking times and higher temperatures without loosing flavor.
See the article Substitutions for common food substitutions. The article How to Dry Fresh Herbs contains information on how to dry fresh herbs for long term storage. Where to Buy Fresh Herbs gives you a variety of options for obtaining fresh herbs.