Oregano or Basil?

[Katra]

The chef at work mentioned that to me as well. ;-) I plan to try it with some chicken or turkey kabobs one of these days!

Oh dear! I wish I knew! This one bloomed about mid-summer last year and the blooms lasted thru a good part of the fall. The blooms were trumpet shaped and about 1 inch long, purple, and very fragrant. Fragrant of mild Oregano. It did not come with a species tag.

The Mexican oregano is much milder and sweeter than the Italian oregano and I'm not too sad that after about 5 years, my old patch of Italian Oregano is dying off. I won't kiss it sayonara yet as it's still hanging in there and could come back, but I seldom use the stuff. I prefer the Mexican plant or Dittany of crete.

I love technology! I went out and snapped a picture with the digicam, re-sized it with photoshop and uploaded it to webspace for you, all in about 5 minutes:

think this is the same variety the nursery I bought it from had growing at their old location before they moved. They grew into large beautiful and fragrant flowering bushes a good 3 to 4 ft. tall.

I bought this one last summer as a teensy thing in a 4" pot, maybe 8" tall at most. The fence behind it has a mesh of 4" x 2" so it looks to be a good 22" tall already and it's not even a year old yet!

I hope the pic and the description helps??? I have already cooked with leaves and blossoms from this plant and it's delightful!

The herbs to the left of it are a curry plant and some early dill from seeds left over from last year.

Kat

[The Cook]

The first 2 have pictures. I want some that is edible. I have some dried I bought a couple of years ago and I imagine that it is about dead.

[Penelope Periwinkle]

seen at nurseries labeled as Mexican Oregano has a fleshy, fuzzy leaf, and it is usually variegated.

But a quick google shows at least one plant that looks just like yours, and at least two very different plants going by that name, so I think I'm even more confused now.

I prefer the plant that I call Italian oregano to common or Greek oregano . I read somewhere that it is a cross between marjoram and oregano; but I have no idea if that's true or not.

Here it is:

this article says that oreganos have purple flowers, and marjorams have white, which means what I have would be a marjoram.

drat. Now I'm going to have to track down some Mexican oregano like yours to see how the taste compares.

Oh, and if you are throwing fresh oregano on the grill, warn your neighbors. One of mine swore up and down that I must be smoking marihuana, not chicken breasts one time!

Penelope

[Penelope Periwinkle]

Cuban, not Mexican!

D'oh...need more caffine.

Penelope

[Penelope Periwinkle]

Richters has Lippia graveolens plants for sale. I think I'm going to get a couple and give it a try.

Penelope

[Katra]

Wow. 3 different varieties! :-)

From the pictures, it looks like the first one.

I've eaten this plant a lot and have had no troubles. I'ts quite tasty and is easier on my stomach and palatte than my italian oregano!

For a similar flavor that is a bit sweeter but mustier (almost like a cross between oregano and sage), consider Dittany of Crete. I have 2 of them going now. Pretty flowers and an attractive, low growing blue green leaf. They seem to be pretty hardy too! My first one has lasted thru 3 winters now and I planted a new one last fall that is also doing well.

If you are in the hill country near Austin, I get a LOT of my live herbs from "It's about Thyme" over on Manchaca.

Kat

[Katra]

Well, it looks like, from the pictures, that there are at least two different plants called Mexican Oregano. :-) The one from this website:

exactly like mine, and I bought mine from "It's about Thyme", a nursery in Austin.

It happens! Try googling for "Salvia" and get really confused! There are a number of varieties of those, including a tropical one that is psychoactive!

From the leaf shape, I'd not be surprised. The leaf of the marjoram is more green and long and slender while most oregano leafs are roundish.

I hope my Marjoram survives! I got it started late last fall and it sill looks a bit puny. I have my herb garden in a long slender bed on the West side of the house. The herbs seem to do well there and get mostly western and southwestern sun.

Ok. :-) Does the Marjoram plant get as big tho'? That would be nice as I have mine planted on the opposite end towards the back yard.

So Marjoram is a variety of Oregano! I did not know that!

Where do you live?

! I remember the 60's... Kids smoking pot would claim to be smoking Oregano! ;-D

[Katra]

That one must be the one. ;-) It says it grows into a miniature tree! I've seen this one get pretty big and once it starts blooming, it blooms for a good couple of months. It's very pretty!

It's size is why I planted it on one end of the row. I need to prune the base so it won't over-shade the poor little curry too much. This is THAT plants second year and the longest I've ever kept one alive!

I love the cuury plant on poultry and in stir fry, but I've harvested carefully so it can be healthy and grow. I might have to see if I can find another one. Not too many nurseries carry it.

I want to look for a "real" curry leaf as they are supposed to be larger and more hardy.

[The Cook]

I haven't lived out that way since about 1973. Lived in San Antonio and enjoyed it very much. I have a picture of me standing beside a squash plant in our garden and it is almost as tall as I am (5' 4".)

I now live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. Just moved here about a year ago and am finding out what grows and how.

I think I will see if I can find a Mexican Oregano plant. Or maybe both varieties.

[Katra]

I can imagine! Totally different climate, but I'll bet it's beautiful! We used to live in Colorado about Denver.

I miss real mountains!

Cool. :-) Let us know what the difference in flavor etc. is please?

[nina]

Antonio

I lived in Colorado Springs for 2 years ,now live in Puerto Rico. We have mountains AND sun AND palms AND beaches. Oh, AND warm weather a

12month growing season instead of a 3 month season.

Sorry. I cant resist griping about Colorado. After 2 years of cold summers and wearing sweaters in May, i decided that place was the cold side of hell.

>

[Katra]

Cool... :-) How is the job market and cost of living there? Just curious.

Actually, I have to agree. ;-) We were at 8,000 ft. so winter was 6 months out of the year. We moved to Texas as we were deathly tired of NO significant growing season and shoveling too much snow, plus risking our lives driving on ice!

It was beautiful tho' during the summer.

Ideally, I'd like to retire with two homes! A summer home in colorado and a winter home here.

[Gary Flynn]

Try Marjoram. Its milder with close to the same taste.

[Katra]

Okay, I just got a Marjoram planted last fall.

Thanks!

[Penelope Periwinkle]

Oh, good, I can put it in one of the flower beds, then. I'm really excited about this, thanks for posting about Mexican oregano. I grow so many peppers, I'm always looking for new cooking ideas for them. Hopefully this will give some of my salsa a more authentic flavor.

I've never tried to grow curry, probably because I don't use it much in cooking. With so many herbs, the taste of fresh is miles away from what you can buy in the stores...would you say that's true of curry? I had some sun dried tomato and basil cheese over the Christmas holidays, and on the first bite I could tell it had been made with dried basil, not fresh.

Penelope

[Katra]

Most welcome! :-) I'll be growing Poblanos this year for the first time... I'll have to find some recipes as for what else to do with them other than rice and stir fry's. I'd rather not freeze them!

Hmmmm... Stuffed roasted perhaps?

This little curry plant that I have is not the "true" curry, it just smells and tastes similar but it's much milder. Most "curry" powder that you buy in the store is a mix of various chiles as well as curry leaf. Worlds away from using a single herb AFAIK?

Heheheh! Trained palette! ;-D Fresh Basil is sweeter and more aromatic. There is no comparison!

[The Cook]

Dry them and you have Anchos.

[Katra]

I think tho' I have to roast/dry them?

[Jim Carlock]

I looked through your CSS stuff and noticed you are using sizes without "unit" 's. All I can say about that:

copy and paste your CSS link, the appropriate input there at the validator page. :-)

Check this out. Save the attached documents to your hard disk in some temporary folder. Make sure the style sheet (style.css) is saved as style.css (ie, do not change the name unless you change the corresponding link inside of the .htm document). This is what I what I was actually thinking of for the menu system.

Anyone can copy and paste the stuff to their hard disk and see what's up. The code is free for the taking. ;-) Consider it public domain.

-- Jim Carlock Please post replies to newsgroup.

[nina]

Thanks. I'm still in Beta here. Once I get the layout and the colors etc as I want them.I will go thru and clean up my code. My personal site comes last after the ones I do for paying clients, so its particularly haphazard.