These perennial plants are easy to care for and indispensable in cooking. Fresh leaves improve the taste of any dish, and dried shoots make a fragrant health tea.
Peppermint
The main value of this plant is mint essential oil, which contains 50-80% menthol. Leaves and inflorescences are rich in carotene, ascorbic acid, other vitamins and organic acids, tannins and phytoncides. Leaves and young shoots are added to salads, meat and vegetable dishes, used for pickling cucumbers, flavoring sauces, various drinks and confectionery. Dried mint is indispensable in tea.
Medicinal properties: The old medical manual said that “mint is cold in the mouth, but warms the intestines.” This herb has a soothing and local analgesic effect. Mint is used for colds, indigestion, diseases of the liver and gallbladder. An infusion of leaves (5 g per glass of water) will save
from nausea.
Collect shoots selectively at the beginning of mass flowering.
Cut almost to the ground.
Dried in the sun, and then dried in the shade under a canopy, in the attic or in a well-ventilated area.
Drying is completed when the leaves begin to separate from the stems.
Dried leaves are stored in tightly closed glass jars.
Thyme (thyme)
Thyme leaves contain an essential oil, the main components of which are thymol and carvacrol, which give the herb a pleasant aroma and a slightly bitter, burning taste. In addition to vitamin C, carotene, trace elements, this fragrant herb contains tannins and resinous substances and other useful components. Thyme is eaten in small doses as a seasoning for soups, vegetable, fish and meat dishes, cottage cheese, cereals, as well as in home canning.
The whole plant smells strongly and pleasantly, thanks to the essential oil it produces. If you want to plunge into a cloud of spicy smell, just run your hand over the lush bushes of thyme. Blooms in July – August.
Medicinal properties: In folk medicine, thyme tea is used for diseases of the respiratory and digestive organs, as well as for insomnia, neuralgia. A decoction of thyme disinfects the oral cavity, lotions and compresses are made from the infusion, which help with arthritis, radiculitis, and neuralgia.
Oregano (oregano)
All over the world this plant better known by the Latin name – oregano (“mountain decoration”). Oregano is very popular in Italian, Mexican and Spanish cuisines. It is added to pizza, spaghetti, salads, sauces, soups and many other dishes, because oregano gives them a bright pleasant taste, and at the same time stimulates the appetite. In the aroma of vermouth, by the way, there is also a “note” of oregano. And in Russia, this herb has long been added to beer and kvass as a preservative. As a spice used in salting, pickling cucumbers and mushrooms. The leaves and flowers of oregano contain ascorbic acid, essential oil, tannins and bitter substances. Due to its high selenium content, oregano is recognized as the “princess” in the company of the “king” – garlic and the “queen” – broccoli.
Medicinal Properties: Oregano is an ingredient in many health teas. For better sweating during colds, tea from oregano and linden flowers is good, as a mild expectorant and sedative – they drink tea from oregano with lemon balm. Well-dried and crushed oregano (harvested in the second year after sowing) does not lose its valuable properties for three years.
Oregano or marjoram?
The aroma of oregano is similar to the smell of marjoram. But the taste is thinner, slightly tart, bitter-spicy. The similarity of these plants is not accidental. After all, they are close relatives. And outwardly very similar: low bushes with fluffy and fragrant white or lilac inflorescences. The only difference is frost resistance. Marjoram, although a perennial plant, does not hibernate in the middle lane, it is not for nothing that it is called the “annual oregano”. Oregano, on the contrary, perfectly tolerates Russian frosts, for which it is called “winter marjoram”. What to grow on the site – an annual or perennial spice – is up to you.
Hyssop
One of the oldest spicy-aromatic plants. Hyssop greens contain a rich set of mineral salts, essential oil (about 1%). Shoots, leaves and flowers are used fresh and dried as a seasoning for salads, first and second courses, stewed vegetables, vinaigrettes, sauces. Hyssop добавляет остроты мясным блюдам. It is put in jars when pickling cucumbers and tomatoes. Fresh leaves can flavor cottage cheese and mayonnaise.
Medicinal properties: Hyssop flowers and stems, brewed as a tea, help with coughs. In the Middle Ages, hyssop tea was used as a health tonic. old people. Hyssop применяют при заболеваниях верхних дыхательных путей, бронхиальной астме, желудочно-кишечных заболеваниях, стенокардии. Infusion and decoction are used for washing the eyes, gargling, compresses.
Melissa lemon
Fresh lemon balm leaves contain about 0.1% essential oil, ascorbic acid, carotene, bitterness, tannins. Young greens are used as a seasoning for salads, soups, game, fish, mushrooms. It is added to sauces, dairy dishes, compotes, tea mixtures, vinegar and liqueurs are flavored, and tonic infusions are prepared.
Medicinal Properties: Lemon balm herb is a good pain reliever. The infusion stimulates appetite, stimulates digestion, relieves colic in the intestines, just like mint, stops vomiting, calms the nervous system, and relieves fatigue. Melissa helps with insomnia, migraines. A decoction of lemon balm is used to rinse the mouth with inflammation of the gums, it is used to treat boils and skin rashes. But the aroma of dried lemon balm is short-lived – it lasts no more than 1 year (even in a hermetically sealed container).