Monday, December 28, 2015

Celebrating the 2015 Herb of the Year-Savories-Part Eleven!

Another Favorite English Herb Book
I do have too many herb books which I haven't read!  This is one of the ones that I need to read through in the near future.  H.L.V. Fletcher's book Herbs is the next on my bookshelf.  He talks about there being two savories, summer, the annual and winter, a sub-shrub, but their uses (assuming he means culinary uses) are similar for both.  He calls savory a neglected herb and this is from a book of the 1970's.  Fletcher does admit that nurseries have both seeds and plants for sale.  He calls it out of fashion even if it has a more pleasant flavor than many of the more popular herbs.  It is traditionally used in most stuffing, in sausages and in many meat dishes.  He says that he has heard that it has been used a good deal on the continent.  That there is a recipe for stuffed marrow (a member of the squash family) that needs a bit of savory to liven it up.

He also says it is out of fashion to use it medicinally.  It was once used for indigestion and colic.  There were a dozen other illnesses it was used for, but the medicinal claims were quite modest.  Although it is said to be good when used on wasp and bee stings.  And that is all he has to say about the savories!

Well, the tide has turned in the weather department.  We are on the cusp of winter.  Not quite there yet, but by the end of the week, we will be having temperatures in the 30's and a taste of winter weather.  So the clock is ticking down until the end of the year.  Will I take a break?  Will I keep posting every day?  In any case, I'll talk to you tomorrow!

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