January By the Numbers Two: Oregano (blog Post)

[aldersprig]

January by the numbers starts here!
From kelkyag's prompt "oregano;" a blog post.

This one’s all me.

When we moved into our second apartment together, T and I — and a friend of ours, and a friend of his, and so on — we acquired a whole bunch of stuff-left-from-previous-roommates, thus starting a trend that would continue (with a couple pauses) for the next decade-plus: dishes, pie plates, for a little while a doll cabinet.

But back then, one of the first things we got was a collection of far too much grocery-store oregano. I think there were three containers of the stuff. And the thing is… we didn’t really cook with that many spices and herbs back then. We were in our early twenties, I barely cooked at all and T. was just starting to work on his cooking.

We ate oregano in everything for a while. And the thing is, old grocery-store oregano doesn’t taste like much and I didn’t have much of a sense of smell, so I’m not sure it added much more than a sort of dusty green color. Still. Oregano. Everywhere.

We started gardening maybe 5 years later, but it is not until three years ago that I actually started growing oregano.

This stuff, I can smell. I can taste. It’s pretty good, actually, although when it comes to herbage I much prefer parsley and sage.

But the thing about oregano is, it turns out it’s part of the mint family. (I find this weird. I’m not sure why I find this weird, but I do). And it’s a perennial. And, well, it acts like it’s in the mint family, which is to say it’s determined, invasive, and durable.

And the thing grows nearly three feet tall. Every year, without me doing anything. And the bees love it.

And we still don’t cook with oregano.

Want More?

Comments

[clare_dragonfly]

Clearly, the solution is to make more pizza.

[aldersprig]

We make pizza! But we use storebought tomato sauce or make white pizza, so there's less call for oregano.

[sauergeek]

So far as I can tell, bees (and their relatives) love all things mint. When I had a garden, I counted at least eight sorts of bees, wasps, hornets, etc. that came to visit all the mint relatives in the garden. I used a fair bit of my oregano (thyme, basil...), but I quickly learned that I had to wait until dusk to go collect any of it -- bees and their relatives are diurnal. Even then, I had to make sure I didn't have any of the assorted mint lovers napping underneath a leaf overnight.

I put oregano in pasta sauce and salads; on pizza and chicken, and whatever else came to mind.

(Edited to correct icon)

[aldersprig]

You know, I don't know if I even know the flavor of proper oregano? Maybe I should make a pesto of it this year.

[sauergeek]

I've never tried oregano as a pesto. I expect it will be stronger than a standard basil pesto. Please let us know how it goes if you try it!

[aldersprig]

oh, man, we did horseradish-leaf pesto last year and it was intense.

(oh no forgot to dig up any horseradish)

[(Anonymous)]

I bet the yard smells nice though

[aldersprig]

OH man, between the oregano and the mint, the chives and the mustard greens, our yard smells awesome!

[kelkyag]

When I was a kid, we had an oregano plant in the yard, safely contained in a bed between the house and a concrete path. It'd grow several feet high (hand waving goes here -- I was short), and about once a year Mom would cut it to the ground, dry it, and give most of it away -- which left plenty for pizza and chili and other tasty things. If you want to go to the fuss of cutting and drying it, I suspect you'll find people happy to take it off your hands.

[aldersprig]

if I caught it before it flowered, that might work...