50 Fun Facts About Herb

In culinary terms, herbs come from which part of a plant?

Spices are the other bits, seeds, bark, roots and fruits, which is why coriander is both an herb and a spice.

The word 'herb' ultimately derives from a Latin word meaning what?

Herba meant grass or herb; Americans typically drop the h when saying it, Commonwealth speakers pronounce it.

Which four herbs make up the classic fines herbes of French cooking?

They are chopped fine and added late to delicate dishes like eggs, fish and chicken.

What is a bouquet garni?

Most French recipes tie together thyme, bay leaf and parsley and drop it into stocks, soups and stews.

Basil, mint, oregano, thyme, sage and rosemary all belong to which plant family?

It is known simply as the mint family; parsley, dill and coriander are in the carrot family Apiaceae instead.

The name basil comes from a Greek phrase meaning what kind of plant?

Basilikon phyton is the source; the herb is native to tropical regions from Central Africa to Southeast Asia.

Basil is one of the two main ingredients, with olive oil, of which Italian sauce?

The Genoese version adds pine nuts, garlic and Parmesan; the word comes from pestare, to pound.

Tulsi, the plant sacred in Hindu tradition, is a species of which herb?

Holy basil is Ocimum tenuiflorum, a different species from the sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) used in Italian kitchens.

In American English, what name is used for the leaves of the coriander plant?

It is simply the Spanish word for coriander; the dried seeds are still called coriander in the US.

A variant of which gene is linked to some people tasting soap when they eat coriander leaves?

It codes for an olfactory receptor that is highly sensitive to the aldehydes in the leaves.

Crushed coriander seeds have a lemony flavour thanks to which two terpenes?

The plant is an annual in the carrot family, native to the Mediterranean basin.

In 2017 rosemary was reclassified into which genus, making it botanically a sage?

Molecular evidence turned Rosmarinus officinalis into Salvia rosmarinus, to the irritation of every gardener with a label maker.

The Latin name of rosemary, ros marinus, translates as what?

It grows wild along Mediterranean coasts; the evergreen shrub can reach nearly two metres tall.

Sprigs of rosemary are worn on which national day of remembrance?

The link between rosemary and memory goes back at least to Ophelia's speech in Hamlet.

What are the two main types of garden parsley?

The curly type is often called French and the flat-leaf Italian; both are biennials in temperate climates.

Parsley is a key ingredient in which Lebanese salad?

The parsley, not the bulgur, is the bulk of a proper tabbouleh.

Hamburg parsley, popular in central and eastern Europe, is grown for which part of the plant?

It looks like a thin parsnip and goes into soups and stews or is eaten raw.

The Greek origin of the word parsley, petroselinon, means what?

The plant is native to Greece, the Balkans, Algeria and Morocco.

Peppermint is a natural hybrid of spearmint and which other species?

Its Latin name is Mentha x piperita; there are somewhere between 18 and 24 mint species, and botanists disagree on the exact number.

In Greek myth, the nymph Minthe was turned into a mint plant after being loved by which god?

Persephone or Demeter did the transforming, depending on the version, out of jealousy.

Which compound gives peppermint its cooling aroma and flavour?

It tricks the cold-sensing receptors in your mouth into firing, which is why mint feels cold without being cold.

Oregano became popular in the US after soldiers returned from which war with a taste for the "pizza herb"?

Southern Italians had probably been eating it for centuries; the flavour comes largely from carvacrol and thymol.

One popular etymology says the name oregano comes from Greek words meaning what?

Oros is mountain and ganos is joy; sweet marjoram is its close relative in the same genus.

Ancient Egyptians used which herb for embalming?

The Greeks burned it as temple incense and thought it a source of courage; thymol is its main aromatic compound.

Which herb is the eponymous ingredient in the pickles served with an American deli sandwich?

It is the only species in its genus, Anethum, and Russian cooks use it with famous abandon.

Dill is native to which regions?

Despite its Middle Eastern origins, it is now most associated with Scandinavian and Russian cooking, gravlax included.

The genus name of culinary sage comes from a Latin verb meaning what?

Romans called it the holy herb, and Charlemagne ordered it grown in monastery gardens for medicine.

Which herb flavours the classic English 'and onion' stuffing served with roast turkey?

Sage and onion stuffing is the traditional one; the herb also goes into Lincolnshire sausages, Italian saltimbocca and Sage Derby cheese.

Culinary bay leaves most commonly come from which tree?

Laurus nobilis leaves stay stiff and abrasive after cooking, which is why recipes tell you to fish them out.

The Indian bay leaf, tej patta, tastes like a milder version of which spice?

It comes from Cinnamomum tamala and is about twice as long and wider than a European bay leaf.

Tarragon is the main flavouring of which classic French sauce?

French tarragon has sterile flowers and must be propagated by cuttings; the Russian type grows from seed but tastes weaker.

Tarragon flavours a popular carbonated soft drink, Tarkhuna, that originated in which country?

It is a bright green fizzy drink still sold across Russia, Armenia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

Unlike most kitchen herbs, tarragon belongs to which plant family, alongside daisies and sunflowers?

Its genus is Artemisia, the same as wormwood, and its anise note comes from estragole.

Which onion genus has exactly one species native to both the Old and New Worlds, the one we snip over baked potatoes?

Chives, Allium schoenoprasum, are the species in question; the pale purple flowers are edible too.

Which delicate fines herbe, sometimes called French parsley, has a faint taste of liquorice or aniseed?

It wilts fast and loses flavour when dried, so it is nearly always used fresh and added at the end.

Lemongrass, despite its name and flavour, is botanically what kind of plant?

Its genus Cymbopogon also gives us citronella oil, the mosquito repellent in candles and sprays.

Citronella oil, the insect repellent, is distilled from species of which lemon-scented plant genus?

Citronella grass grows to about two metres with magenta-coloured base stems.

The word for the purple-flowered herb Lavandula is thought to derive from a Latin verb meaning what?

Lavare, via Old French lavandre; the genus has 47 known species and English lavender is Lavandula angustifolia.

How many known species are there in the genus Lavandula?

They sit in the sage family, and the common English lavender was formerly named L. officinalis.

Which purple-flowered ingredient appears in North American herbes de Provence but is unusual in French blends?

The commercial blend was only formulated in the 1970s by spice wholesalers such as Ducros, now part of McCormick.

In which decade was the herbes de Provence blend first formulated commercially by spice wholesalers?

The name has no protected status, and most of what is sold worldwide is grown outside Provence entirely.

Which herb, found in bouquet garni and herbes de Provence, gives its name to the compound thymol?

It is the dried aerial parts of plants in the genus Thymus.

Botanically, a herbaceous plant is one with which characteristic?

By that definition rosemary and bay, both woody, are herbs in the kitchen but not in the textbook.

Which fines herbe has pale purple edible flowers and a species name meaning 'rush-leek'?

They belong to the amaryllis family with onions and garlic rather than to the mint or carrot families.

The Greek name of which herb gives the battlefield of Marathon its name?

In Hesiod's Theogony, Prometheus smuggles fire from Olympus in a hollow fennel stalk.

Which emperor required this liquorice-flavoured herb of the carrot family on all imperial farms?

Greeks and Romans used it as medicine, food and insect repellent, and fennel tea was thought to give warriors courage.

Marjoram was known to the Romans as the herb of what?

Ancient Greeks believed Aphrodite created the plant, and it was not widely used in the US until after World War II.

Lovage, whose flavour recalls celery and parsley, is native to which two countries?

It is the sole species in its genus, and its seeds can be used like fennel seeds.

The genus name of lemon balm, Melissa, comes from the Greek word for what?

The plant's flowers attract bees, and it has been grown for that purpose since at least the 16th century.

Sweet woodruff, used to flavour German May wine, owes its scent to which compound?

The scent grows stronger as the plant wilts and persists once dried, so it is used in potpourri.