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Oregano (Origanum vulgare) is a spicy, Mediterranean, perennial herb, particularly common in Greek and Italian cuisines. It is the leaves that are used in cooking, and the dried herb is often more flavourful than the fresh.
1 Classification
Oregano (also called : Greek oregano, wild marjoram) is a member of the mint family, Lamiaceae.
2 Sensoric quality
Aromatic, warm and slightly bitter. Oregano largely varies in intensity: Good quality is so strong that it almost numbs the tongue, but the cultivars adapted to colder climate have often insatisfactory flavour.
3 Origin
Several species of genus Origanum are native to the Mediterranean, all of which are traded as a spice. The influence of climate, season and soil on the composition of the essential oil is greater than the difference between the various species.
The most important species are O. vulgare ( pan-European ), O. onites ( Greece, Asia Minor) and O. heracleoticum ( ItalyThe Italian Republic or Italy ( Italian: Italia is a country in the south of Europe, consisting mainly of a boot-shaped peninsula together with two large islands in the Mediterranean Sea: Sicily and Sardinia. To the north, where it borders France, Switzer, Balkan peninsular, West Asia). A closely related plant is marjoramMarjoram Origanum majorana Lamiaceae) is a cold-sensitive perennial herb or undershrub with sweet pine and citrus flavors. It is also called sweet marjoram or knotted marjoram and Majorana hortensis''. The name marjoram ( Old French majorane, Medieval lat from Asia Minor, which, however, differs significantly in taste, because phenolic compounds are missing in its essential oil. Some breeds show an flavour intermediate between oregano and marjoram (gold marjoram = gold oregano).
4 Oregano in cooking
Oregano is a conditio sine qua non in Italian cuisine, where it is used for tomato sauceTomato sauce is a condiment made with tomatoes and sometimes also ham, onions, basil, salt, oil, garlic and various spices. A few tomatoes are broiled, skinned and mixed with a small amount of chopped ham, onion and some salt, oil, basil and other spices.s, fried vegetables and grilled meat. Together with basil, it makes up for the character of Italian dishes; see parsley on Italian variants of bouquet garni.
Oregano can effectively combined with pickled olives and capers or lovage leaves; other than most Italian herbs, oregano harmonizes even with hot and spicy food, as is popular in Southern Italy. The cuisines of other Mediterranean countries make less use of it, but it is of some importance for Spanish, French and Greek cooking.
