50 free Herb trivia questions with answers — food & drink quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
44 free herb trivia questions with answers for cooks, gardeners and anyone who has ever argued about whether cilantro tastes like soap. The quiz sticks to true herbs, the leafy green parts of plants, and covers the classics: basil, mint, rosemary, parsley, coriander, oregano, thyme, dill, sage, bay leaves, tarragon, chives, chervil, lemongrass and lavender. Along the way you will find out which herb was reclassified as a sage in 2017, which one Greeks burned in their temples for courage, which is the only onion relative native to both the Old and New Worlds, why peppermint is a hybrid, what the four fines herbes are, what goes into a bouquet garni, and why lavender ends up in North American herbes de Provence but rarely in French ones. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia before publishing and each question links to its source. Difficulty ranges from easy questions about pesto and dill pickles to expert questions on plant families and Latin etymology, so it works for a dinner-party round or a serious garden-club quiz. Spices get their own quiz on BrainPickle.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In culinary terms, herbs come from which part of a plant?
The leafy green or flowering parts
Spices are the other bits, seeds, bark, roots and fruits, which is why coriander is both an herb and a spice.
Q 02The word 'herb' ultimately derives from a Latin word meaning what?
Grass
Herba meant grass or herb; Americans typically drop the h when saying it, Commonwealth speakers pronounce it.
Q 03Which four herbs make up the classic fines herbes of French cooking?
Parsley, chives, tarragon, chervil
They are chopped fine and added late to delicate dishes like eggs, fish and chicken.
Q 04What is a bouquet garni?
Herbs tied in a bundle and fished out before serving
Most French recipes tie together thyme, bay leaf and parsley and drop it into stocks, soups and stews.
Q 05Basil, mint, oregano, thyme, sage and rosemary all belong to which plant family?
Lamiaceae
It is known simply as the mint family; parsley, dill and coriander are in the carrot family Apiaceae instead.
Q 06The name basil comes from a Greek phrase meaning what kind of plant?
Royal or kingly
Basilikon phyton is the source; the herb is native to tropical regions from Central Africa to Southeast Asia.
Q 07Basil is one of the two main ingredients, with olive oil, of which Italian sauce?
Pesto
The Genoese version adds pine nuts, garlic and Parmesan; the word comes from pestare, to pound.
Q 08Tulsi, the plant sacred in Hindu tradition, is a species of which herb?
Basil
Holy basil is Ocimum tenuiflorum, a different species from the sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) used in Italian kitchens.
Q 09In American English, what name is used for the leaves of the coriander plant?
Cilantro
It is simply the Spanish word for coriander; the dried seeds are still called coriander in the US.
Q 10A variant of which gene is linked to some people tasting soap when they eat coriander leaves?
OR6A2
It codes for an olfactory receptor that is highly sensitive to the aldehydes in the leaves.
Q 11Crushed coriander seeds have a lemony flavour thanks to which two terpenes?
Linalool and pinene
The plant is an annual in the carrot family, native to the Mediterranean basin.
Q 12In 2017 rosemary was reclassified into which genus, making it botanically a sage?
Salvia
Molecular evidence turned Rosmarinus officinalis into Salvia rosmarinus, to the irritation of every gardener with a label maker.
Q 13The Latin name of rosemary, ros marinus, translates as what?
Dew of the sea
It grows wild along Mediterranean coasts; the evergreen shrub can reach nearly two metres tall.
Q 21Which compound gives peppermint its cooling aroma and flavour?
Menthol
It tricks the cold-sensing receptors in your mouth into firing, which is why mint feels cold without being cold.
Q 22Oregano became popular in the US after soldiers returned from which war with a taste for the "pizza herb"?
World War II
Southern Italians had probably been eating it for centuries; the flavour comes largely from carvacrol and thymol.
Q 23One popular etymology says the name oregano comes from Greek words meaning what?
Joy of the mountain
Oros is mountain and ganos is joy; sweet marjoram is its close relative in the same genus.
Q 14Sprigs of rosemary are worn on which national day of remembrance?
Anzac Day
The link between rosemary and memory goes back at least to Ophelia's speech in Hamlet.
Q 15What are the two main types of garden parsley?
Curly and flat
The curly type is often called French and the flat-leaf Italian; both are biennials in temperate climates.
Q 16Parsley is a key ingredient in which Lebanese salad?
Tabbouleh
The parsley, not the bulgur, is the bulk of a proper tabbouleh.
Q 17Hamburg parsley, popular in central and eastern Europe, is grown for which part of the plant?
Its root
It looks like a thin parsnip and goes into soups and stews or is eaten raw.
Q 18The Greek origin of the word parsley, petroselinon, means what?
Rock celery
The plant is native to Greece, the Balkans, Algeria and Morocco.
Q 19Peppermint is a natural hybrid of spearmint and which other species?
Water mint
Its Latin name is Mentha x piperita; there are somewhere between 18 and 24 mint species, and botanists disagree on the exact number.
Q 20In Greek myth, the nymph Minthe was turned into a mint plant after being loved by which god?
Hades
Persephone or Demeter did the transforming, depending on the version, out of jealousy.
Q 24Ancient Egyptians used which herb for embalming?
Thyme
The Greeks burned it as temple incense and thought it a source of courage; thymol is its main aromatic compound.
Q 25Which herb is the eponymous ingredient in the pickles served with an American deli sandwich?
Dill
It is the only species in its genus, Anethum, and Russian cooks use it with famous abandon.
Q 26Dill is native to which regions?
North Africa and the Middle East
Despite its Middle Eastern origins, it is now most associated with Scandinavian and Russian cooking, gravlax included.
Q 27The genus name of culinary sage comes from a Latin verb meaning what?
To be healthy
Romans called it the holy herb, and Charlemagne ordered it grown in monastery gardens for medicine.
Q 28Which herb flavours the classic English 'and onion' stuffing served with roast turkey?
Sage
Sage and onion stuffing is the traditional one; the herb also goes into Lincolnshire sausages, Italian saltimbocca and Sage Derby cheese.
Q 29Culinary bay leaves most commonly come from which tree?
The bay laurel
Laurus nobilis leaves stay stiff and abrasive after cooking, which is why recipes tell you to fish them out.
Q 30The Indian bay leaf, tej patta, tastes like a milder version of which spice?
Cinnamon
It comes from Cinnamomum tamala and is about twice as long and wider than a European bay leaf.