Spice University - Thyme

A Little Spice of Life
From the Colonel

Thymus vulgaris

One of the more popular herbs in the American cuisine is thyme. There are many varieties of thyme. The most common are garden thyme and wild thyme. Garden thyme is sometimes referred to as English thyme or common thyme. Wild thyme is preferred in French cuisine, where it is a widely used herb. Another variety, lemon thyme, is an exquisite blend of the earthiness of thyme and the pure freshness of lemon. Lemon thyme is achieved by crossing common thyme with wild thyme.

There are very few poultry, meat, or vegetable dishes that can't be improved with the use of thyme. Thyme is also used for soups, fish, and eggs. Thyme is one of the ingredients in Bouquet Garni (typically parsley, thyme, and bay). It is also one of the ingredients in Herbs de Provence (usually chervil, tarragon, savory, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, lavender and sometimes fennel). The only caution in using thyme is that, in general, you should use less than you think will be needed. Remember, it is much easier to add more should the flavor be too flat.

Thyme’s popularity is nearly global. It is a common herb in Britain second only to mint in popularity. In addition to the myriad uses in American cuisine, thyme is also used in Cajun and Creole cooking. Thyme is a key herb in several Asian cuisines, as well as, being found in Jamaican dishes and Central American foods.

When you can't find thyme (no pun intended), you could try young sage leaves and flowers.

This months guest chef is Marilyn Harris.

Recipes

French Chicken in Red Wine
Pasta Salad w/Broccoli & Artichokes
Simple Savory Roasted Chicken
Italian Sausage Soup










Colonel De Stewart

Spice University - Nutmeg

A Little Spice of Life
From the Colonel

Nutmeg - Myristica fragrans

As far as I know, (and I am counting on you out there to set me straight), there are only three rather common plants that give us two very different spices from each plant. Eventually we will cover them all, but let’s start with, nutmeg and mace. I’ll give mace its due in a future article, but mace is the somewhat lacy cover of the nut that we call nutmeg. There is one more plant that does this but in our European based cuisine we rarely use either one. I'm talking about fenugreek seeds and fenugreek leaves. Never the less, we will cover these as well, some time later.

When Columbus sailed off and found a continent we all know and love, one of the spices he was looking for was nutmeg. Native to the Spice Islands, the seed of the nutmeg tree (a tropical evergreen) was very popular throughout the world from the 15th to the 19th century. In Colonial times in America, if you were invited to a fancy meal, even if it were being hosted by President George the First, you were expected to bring your own nutmeg, which you would grind onto the meat dish. You brought your own because it was too expensive for your host to provide. You used it on the meat of the feast in an effort to cover up the bad flavor of the usually partially rotted meat. Remember, no refrigeration back then.

Nutmeg can be used on savory things, as in the example of the meat above. It is still good used on meat, though these days the meat is usually not as rotten. But, we also love nutmeg in sweet dishes. In the Southern tradition a fruit pie just isn’t quite ready to be cooked if there isn’t some nutmeg in it. During the Holiday Season, I won’t drink my Egg Nog if there isn’t a good brisk brushing of nutmeg on top.

Nutmeg is best freshly grated. The flavor is delicately warm, spicy, and sweet.

If you don't have nutmeg, try using mace, but be gentle as mace is much stronger.

Recipes
This first recipe was accidentally left off of last month's list of recipes for chives. It is by my very dear friend Rita Heikenfeld. This is a "must try" recipe.

Shaker Herb Soup

These recipes are for this month's spice, nutmeg.

Butternut Squash and Cranberry Bread
Melon Soup
Scalloped Oysters 2

Colonel De Stewart