Guest guest Posted November 19, 2003 Report Share Posted November 19, 2003 > They SHOULD but amazingly they don't. Stinks it does! I can't find one > brand of herbs and spices that has the botanical names on them. Some of > them give a little story about them like " Basil - heavily scented green > leafy plant that is one of the most popular herbs in Mediterranean > cooking, blah blah " but no botanical names anywhere on the bottles. > > > or from a knowledgeable Herb seller they will. ... Yep, seems like I read a bunch of really pretty prose describing the herb, but no scientific nomenclature. Penzey's and thespicehouse.com are two reputable spice merchants, and they don't use the common names. Thanks for all the help - that really helped me nail down which one I was thinking of and use in cooking. JenB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 19, 2003 Report Share Posted November 19, 2003 At 06:27 PM 11/19/2003 -0000, you wrote: Hi Jen: Oh, the oreganos, oh, the marjorams, will the confusion ever end! :-> From my limited perspective, nothing as broad and extensive as Butch's, all I can add is, as a cook, and botanist, I have been pretty clear what I have been using for years, and I don't use no steenkin' binomial nomenclature :-) I can just use my nose. I have some great oregano (from Greece), and if my feet were held to fire, I would say its Origanum vulgare. I also have some sweet marjoram, aka Marjorana hortensis, aka Origanum majorana. The O. vulgare (and all its relatives) have a distinct thyme-like scent and taste to them. The M. hortensis, aka O. majorana is lighter, sweeter, no thyme-like note at all. We're not talking EOs here, just the dried herb. If you'd like to see the difference, I can send you some. There are dishes I prepare that I would *never* mix the two. However, knowing that many different 'oreganos', of the Origanum spps. are available, I would substitute one of them in a dish calling for 'oregano'. But if I were making Italian red sauce for seafood, I would use the sweet marjoram, the only one I know as sweet marjoram, and nothing else. The oregano flavor would ruin it. HTH. Glad you didn't ask about the Mexican oreganos (Lippia sp.), or the Caribbean ones, (Plectranthus or Coleus), cause, gosh, that would only confuse things further :-) http://member.newsguy.com/~herblady Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 20, 2003 Report Share Posted November 20, 2003 Yo Chris, > > > Herbs should have the scientific names on them as well! > > > They should .. and if you buy them in itty-bitty bottles .. like > > from McCormicks > > They SHOULD but amazingly they don't. Stinks it does! I can't find one > brand of herbs and spices that has the botanical names on them. Some > of them give a little story about them like " Basil - heavily scented > green leafy plant that is one of the most popular herbs in > Mediterranean cooking, blah blah " but no botanical names anywhere on > the bottles. Surprised I am. I've not bought any McCormicks in the USA for a couple of centuries but they sell it here in Turkey .. Turkish Common Name and Botanical Name on the label. McCormicks has a large factory here .. a lot of what y'all get in the USA comes from here. > > or from a knowledgeable Herb seller they will. ... > > Yep, that is probably the best bet ! Right .. but knowledgeable is the key .. all them whut runs shops are not .. you know that as you worked in such a place in New York once and best I can remember .. you said most of the folks there knew not their butts from a hole in the ground. > <heavily snipped> > > > Y'all keep smiling. :-) Butch http://www.AV-AT.com > > You too! :-D Done and done. I'm grinning cause the Turkish Police done gud. They caught a couple'a Kurdish terrorists in Izmir with 3,200 kilograms of friggin C4 explosives, hand grenades and other weapons. The targets of the terrorists were the Izmir Province Governor's building, the Directorate of Security building, and some police and gendarmerie stations. The terrorists admitted .. under protest, I am sure .. ;-p to having been trained in Iraq. That's a buncha explosives .. only 1,000 kilograms of C4 was used in the two trucks that hit the synagogues in Istanbul. With 3,200 kilos they could have raised pluperfect hell. > *Smile* > Chris (list mom) > http://www.alittleolfactory.com Yes'm .. and y'all too. :-P Butch http://www.AV-AT.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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