Marjoram

Originally from Persia, marjoram has a delicate, light yet intense flavour and is often confused with oregano and used to season pizza, but it pairs well with all types of meat and with tomato. An essential ingredient in several traditional Ligurian dishes, it features in all kinds of stuffings (it is excellent in chicken ones) and in some soups.

Marjoram is used in pharmacy for its many medicinal properties: it aids digestion, stimulates the appetite and relieves pain in general, but especially abdominal and menstrual pain. However, it should not be used in cases of heavy periods or during pregnancy. In excessive doses it has a narcotic and stupefying effect.

Well known for its anaphrodisiac properties, marjoram predisposes the mind to rest and relaxation, and helps to calm the emotions.

A recipe with marjoram

Thyme

The thyme used in cooking has smaller leaves than the wild variety, which grows in Mediterranean regions. It is a perennial shrub with grey, thin and oval leaves, with a pleasantly sharp lemon flavour.

It keeps well both dried and frozen and is part of the "bouquet garni". Indispensable in rustic cuisine, in marinades and with game, thyme is perfect in all recipes that call for wine as an ingredient, while, mixed with salt and pepper, it can be rubbed onto veal and lamb before roasting.

Thyme-based preparations are used against bronchitis and whooping cough, as they promote expectoration and act as bronchospasmolytic agents and disinfectants. The essential oil contained in thyme, thymol, is also a good antiseptic for the oral cavity and for skin fungal infections, but it should not be ingested, must be avoided during pregnancy, and should never be applied pure to sensitive skin or allowed to come into contact with mucous membranes, as this may cause serious irritation.

A recipe with thyme.