Summer Savory: The Peppery, Piquant Love Herb Satureja hortensis
Do you love the bright flavor and aroma of fresh herbs? Then you should really devote some time and garden space to growing summer savory.
An annual herb, Satureja hortensis is a low-growing plant that belongs to the mint family (Lamiaceae) and is related to rosemary and thyme. Used for millennia as a seasoning, it also has medicinal properties and was once popular in love potions as an aphrodisiac!
Native to the eastern Mediterranean and the Caucasus, it’s a highly aromatic herb and features a hot, peppery flavor with notes of marjoram, mint, and thyme. Its flavor is also similar to that of its perennial cousin, winter savory – although the winter variety has a slightly more bitter, earthy taste.
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It grows to a height of 12-18 inches and features thickly branched stems covered in narrow dark green leaves. By mid-summer it produces small white, pink, or lilac flowers with seeds forming shortly after.
Here’s what’s to come:
Easily grown, you can begin to harvest leaves when the plants are just 5-6 inches tall. Let’s dig in!
The Love Herb
Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans considered summer savory to be an aphrodisiac, and associated it with supernatural beings and lusty satyrs – and later, the Druids used it as part of their rituals celebrating the fertility of the summer season.
Indeed, during the Middle Ages, European monasteries prohibited growing this risque herb so as not to tempt monks to break their vows of chastity!
The word “savory” comes from the old Latin word sapor, which means “taste” or “flavor,” and is used to describe foods with a salty
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