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.
Classification
Oregano (also called: Greek oregano, wild marjoram) is a member of the mint family, Lamiaceae.
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.
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 (Italy, Balkan peninsular, West
Asia). 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 an flavour intermediate between oregano and marjoram (gold marjoram = gold
oregano).
Oregano in cooking
Oregano is a conditio sine qua non in Italian
cuisine, where it is used for tomato sauces, 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.
Pizza
The dish most associated with oregano is pizza, a kind of open pie: Bread dough topped with tasty stuff and baked. Bread of this kind was probably eaten in Southern Italy for
centuries; according to the legend, pizza came into existence in 1889, when King Umberto and his wife Margherita
sojourned in Napoli (Naples). Pizza, at this time not more than white bread flavoured
with tomato paste, was then a popular food for the poor masses. To honour the Queen, a local baker devised a richer kind of
pizza: In addition to the red tomato paste, white mozzarella cheese and green
basil leaves were employed, thus reflecting the colours of the Italian flag. This invention became known as pizza
Margherita and spread all over Italy and, with some delay, over the rest of the world.
Today's pizza relies more on oregano than on basil, and use a multitude of further ingredients: Ham, sausage, fish,
shellfish, mushrooms, artichokes, onion, garlic, olives, capers, anchovies and more make pizza a sophisticated delicacy, although it had once been the poor
man's sandwich.
Mexican dishes
Outside the Mediterranean region, oregano is, rather surprisingly, little in use, except among Italian immigrants. The very
similar, but stronger, taste of Mexican oregano (see above) is popular not only in its native country México, but also in the
south of the US, where it is frequently used to flavour chili con
carne (meat stewed with chiles and sometimes beans) or other México-inspired dishes. For this purpose, it is mostly combined with several varieties of chiles and
paprika, dried garlic or onion and cumin).
Additional info
Catalan: orenga Spanish: orégano
Origanum syriacum is the Bible Hyssop or Syrian Oregano
Origanum laevigatum is the Purple Oregano or Ornamental Oregano.
Other plants called Oregano
Mexican Oregano stems
from the plant Lippia graveolens (Verbenaceae) and is closely related
to lemon verbena. Although only loosely related to Oregano, Mexican
Oregano displays a flavour very similar to that of Oregano, albeit stronger. It is increasingly traded, especially in the
US. Its strong aroma makes it an acceptable substitute for epazote leaves if the latter are not available; this wouldn't work the other way round,
though.
There is a significant taxonomic confusion about the term "oregano" in Mexican cooking. Several plants are named thus
in different parts of México, and there is little clear information about those. Some plants that have been identified as
"Mexican Oregano" are Poliomintha longiflora, Lippia berlandieri and Plectranthus amboinicus (syn. Coleus
aromaticus), also called Cuban Oregano.
External links
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