The Greenhouse,

is about growing matters, focusing on my greenhouse and potager. I grow mainly vegetables, herbs and spices but flowers have their given place too. From seed to table, this is the nursery for my living food, we cook a lot of delicious food and I say a potager is the cook’s best friend. The greenhouse makes it possible to grow essential, colourful, warmth loving fruit and vegetables even in this climate such as tomatoes and chillies. My main blog is Tyras Trädgård/Tyra's Garden. View my profile

Tuesday

Oregano - Origanum vulgare

This post, Oregano' was originally uploaded and written by Tyra at the blog The greenhouse in Tyra's Garden http://tyras-greenhouse.blogspot.com/
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ABC Wednesday this week it is O for Oregano.
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Pizza herb numero uno!

The dish most commonly associated with oregano is pizza. Its variations have probably been eaten in Southern Italy for centuries. Here in Sweden you can buy both “pizza herb” and Oregano from the same shelf in the store :-)

Origanum vulgare is an important culinary herb. It is particularly widely used in Mediterranean cuisine. It is the leaves that are used in cooking, and the dried Oregano leaves are often more flavourful than the fresh and that is unusual. In my potager I grow Origanum vilgare compacta as the name says it is a more compact version of the common Oregano.

Oregano is often used in tomato dishes, with fried vegetables, and grilled meat. Together with basil, it contributes much to the distinctive character of many Mediterranean dishes. As I’m a tomato freak I use it a lot in my kitchen, sparingly amounts of it but often. It has this aromatic, warm and slightly bitter taste which I like.

A close relative is Marjoram (Origanum majorana, Lamiaceae) is a somewhat cold-sensitive perennial herb or undershrub with sweet pine and citrus flavours. It is also called Sweet Marjoram or Knotted Marjoram and the old name Majorana hortensis. The related species Origanum onites Pot marjoram (Greece, Asia Minor) and O. heracleoticum (Italy, Balkan Peninsula, West Asia) have similar flavours. A closely related plant is marjoram from Asia Minor, which, however, differs significantly in taste, because phenolic compounds are missing in its essential oil. Some breeds show a flavour intermediate between oregano and marjoram.
Some facts and curiosities from Wikipedia Oregano

Potager - Oregano and friends


Oregano (Origanum vulgare), vars vanligaste svenska namn är kungsmynta, även om den också har kallats mycket annat, till exempel "frimodig", "dosta", "könig" eller vildmejram", är en gammal kulturväxt, vars blad har använts som krydda i olika sammanhang och som surrogat för te. Den har också nyttjats i magiska syften, till exempel vid häxbesvärjelser och exorcism.

En nära släkting till Kungsmyntan är Mejram (Origanum majorana, tidigare Majorana hortensis) används färsk eller torkad som krydda i bland annat korv, kött och ärtsoppa. Mejram är osäkert härdig i Sverige och odlas med fördel som ettårig kryddväxt.

Oregano och Mejram är alltså inte samma sak även fast den ibland kallas vildmejram. Det är lite rörigt i Origanum släktet! Det är väl för att man kallar ”pizzakryddan” för Oregano som liknar släktnamnet Origanum som även ”ärtsoppekryddan” Mejram har i sitt latinska namn Origanum majorana. Sedan att Oregano kallas vildmejram snurrar ju verkligen till det. Att kalla den för Kungsmynta är ju också förvirrande för de är ju inte en av Myntasläktet Mentha.

En annan art är grekisk oregano (Origanum heracleoticum) och en kultursort av O. vulgare är lågväxande oregano (Origanum vulgare compacta). Det är dessa båda som framför allt har använts som krydda på pizza. Den här lågväxande sorten har jag i min potager.

En liten varning! Kungsmyntan kan lätt bli ett ogräs så var lite försiktig var du planterar den.

Fakta och kuriosa från Wikipedia Oregano.

Read about more great ABC Wednesday's O here.

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Have a great day/TYRA



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21 comments:

Rune Eide said...

Her lærte jeg mye. Jeg er ikke glad i pizza (liker ikke smelteosten), men elsker oregano og basilikum i andre tomatretter.

Bare fortsett!

Unknown said...

nice idea, tomorrow a make Pizza :-))) liebe Grüße von Kathrin aus Bremen

Anna said...

I can smell oregano just reading this post Tyra - mmmmmm :)

Anonymous said...

Intressant lektion om oregano. Tack Tyra

Reader Wil said...

Det var interessant. Jeg liker oregano! Takk for kommentaren din! Ha en god uke!

Pat - Arkansas said...

Yum! Oregano is one of my favorite herbs. I don't have any at present in my garden, but have grown it in years past. Nothing quite says "Italian" like oregano.

Sylvia K said...

Hmmmm love pizza! and I love oregano! what a great O word for the day! Very interesting information, too! And beautiful photos! Thanks for stopping by and for your comments, always appreciated! Have a great week!

nilla|utanpunkt said...

Har mejram här – och här är det verkligen härdig, växer och brer ut sig allt mer varje år. Blir osäker på vilken variant jag har, vi tycker den smakar/doftar väldigt mycket oregano...

Frances said...

Hi Tyra, uuummmm, one of my favorite flavorful herbs! And favorite foods, Pizza!
Frances

Tumblewords: said...

One of my favorites! Thank you for the information...and the beautiful photos!

Anjas Hill said...

Väldigt trevlig läsning om Oregano.

Visst sprider den sig men får aldrig det där jobbiga rotsystemet utan kan ryckas bort lätt i samband med annan ogräsrensnig - tycker jag. Däremot har jag inte märkt att tex den gulbladiga skulle sprida sig (inte med gula blad i varje fall;)!)

mvh, Anja

Dagrun said...

Nå ble jeg både sulten og i sommermood! Fin blog!

Miss_Yves said...

Yes, oregano is delicious in pizza, and your garden is very nice !

Bradley Hsi said...

It is a herb quite foreign for the Chinese cooking. But we used often when we are in the US and Europe, yes, when we try to do the Italian cooking. Nice post.

Rose said...

Oregano is a great choice for O! We love pizza here, so it's one herb I do use a lot of:)

By the way, after your post last week, I noticed a columnist for our local newspaper had a whole article devoted to planting by the moon. I don't remember all the details now, but the general conclusion was that it works!

spacedlaw said...

I actually never put organo on my pizza. But I love having the plant in the garden nevertheless.

naturglede/Randi Lind said...

Ja, jeg liker oregano på pizzaen min og på pasta. Nydelig. Herlig innlegg:)

Granny Smith said...

An necessary ingredient in Italian cooking, a cuisine I really enjoy. Good choice for "O".

Willow said...

I usually plant oregano and basil in my kitchen garden, along with parsley. I'm thinking I must be partial to Mediterranean cuisine...

Leslie: said...

What a great choice for today! I absolutely ADORE Italian food - maybe it's because of the oregano! :D

Seasonal Wisdom said...

Tyra,
Another interesting post, as always. I sprinkle oregano on everything, from pizzas to scrambled eggs. I find it mixes well with basil, rosemary and thyme too. Enjoy!