Harvesting Oregano for Food Seasoning and Well Being + How to Propagate
Oregano is a perennial herb in the mint family that has been used for thousands of years for seasoning food - and for medicinal purposes. It's one of my most used cooking herbs from the garden.
Cooking with Oregano
Oregano is a great addition to many cooked and raw dishes. It has a woody, super-mild-pine smell - a very flavorful and robust herb that can be added early in the cooking process without worry of the flavor diminishing. It can be boiled, baked, pan fried, grilled, or added to raw dishes. Oregano is a perfect match for tomatoes - one of the few ingredients that I use when making tomato sauce. Excellent sprinkled on pizza - a nice addition to soups, stews, breads, beans, vegetables, pickling, dressings, dips, chicken, meat, fish, and many other foods. The leaf of the oregano plant is the part most often used for flavoring and essential oil extraction. The edible flowers are sometimes added to salads and dressings for an extra splash of color and flavor.
Fresh or Dried Oregano
Oregano can be used fresh or dried, but the flavor of dried oregano is stronger than fresh oregano. If the recipe calls for a tablespoon of fresh oregano, and only dried oregano is available, then only a half table spoon of dried oregano would be needed for the recipe. If the recipe called for dried oregano, and fresh was used instead, double the amount of fresh oregano would be recommended.
Greek Oregano
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The Greek Oregano variety produces many more, and larger leaves than the common oregano variety. Bees of all kinds enjoy most herbal flowers - including all varieties of oregano flowers.
Oregano Harvest
Oregano is harvested by cutting the stalks a few inches above the ground. The best time of day to harvest is in the early morning - before the hot sun - and after the morning dew is gone. Oregano can be used fresh or dried and stored for later use. Oregano can also be distilled for it's essential oil use and storage.
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In the first picture below you can see how the oregano stalks were separated and tied into small bunches along the string. If too many stalks are bunched together, some leaves might be press together and not properly dry. In the next picture below you can see how the string is hung in a shaded and cool space with ample air flow.
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After the harvested and strung up oregano has dried, I will pull off the leaves and place them into an air tight container for storing in a dark, dry, and cool place - until they are needed for a recipe.
Common Oregano / Wild Marjoram
The common variety of Oregano is sometimes referred to as Wild Marjoram.
The Common and Greek oregano varieties look very similar in the spring, but as the stalks stretch upward, the Greek oregano fills in with many more leaves.
The stalks and flowers of this common Oregano variety also take on a pinkish color instead of the white flowers and silvery stalks of the Greek Oregano.
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Oregano and Well Being
Oregano is anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, has cancer fighting anti-oxidant properties, and helps bring relief to respiratory infections. Oregano herbal tea can be cooled and used for skin care. Oregano has Iron, Fiber, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Manganese, Calcium, and Omega Fatty Acids. I like to micro dose with oregano by eating it fresh, and cooking with it often. Visit the Web MD - Oregano: Uses, Side Effects, Interactions, and Dosing website for more information.
Oregano Propagation
Oregano is a perennial herb that grows in one tall stalk with many leaves. A new stalk and leaves grow back after winter, or after being cut.
Lay-down Propagation
When an oregano stalk lays down on the ground, if it stays on the ground or is held down with a rock, roots will grow where the stalk touches the ground. The next year a new oregano stalk will grow at the new root location, and the original oregano stalk root location.
Self Seeding and Seedlings
A patch of oregano does a great job of growing larger on it's own by self-seeding. Seeds can also be harvested and planted in another location, or in containers.
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Splitting an Oregano Patch
Another way to easily spread oregano to multiple locations is by splitting an existing oregano patch. If the patch is large enough, a shovel can be carefully pushed straight down and around some of the plants in the patch to transplant with their roots to another location. In the picture below you can see three containers with oregano stalks and roots transplanted into them - from the oregano patch just behind them.
Oregano is one of the herbs that I always make a point of having on hand, and in the garden. A hardy plant that is easy to care for - just plant it in the ground and enjoy for many years to come. They grow well in medium size containers, just be sure to water them if needed. The oregano harvested will be used for making tomato sauce and pickles - for Preserving the Garden Harvest this year.
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Our oregano patch keeps growing bigger and bigger. Rebecca would probably cut it back, but the bees like the flowers so much and they bloom in the heat of the summer when there is little other forage.
I'm sure the bees are loving it :) I always have a few bees working with me when I'm in the gardens. I'm going to have to set up a few bee hive boxes next year so see if they'd like to move in :)
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Super-Great post man and well worth a Re-Steem!
Another example of how nature contains all the ingredients for a variety of health sustaining and health healing properties..
Thanks @preppervetuk - homemade soup always used to hit the spot with me. Just the right mix of a lot of good stuff for a little relief from processed foods :)
My absolute fave- though I was getting worried I'd been calling it the wrong name all these years- thank goodness you mentioned it's also called Wild Marjoram !
I love letting our patch run rampant for the bees- it's always covered in buzzers of all kinds when it's in flower and I love putting sprigs of it in soups and when roasting chicken too.
I hadn't thought about drying it - thank you for the suggestion as it'll be a lovely addition to winter cooking! E x
That's a nice concentrated dose of oregano info, there. Well rounded from gardening to tabletop, too. I enjoyed the ease with which you can use oregano. I especially liked how you distinguished between dry and fresh oregano.
I was also enlightened by the nutritional and medicinal properties of oregano presented here. I have known about mint for awhile, but didn't know there were specific benefits other than flavoring for food. And I didn't consider sprinkling dried oregano on pizza until reading your article.
Thanks.
Thanks @digitalfirehose - it's great saute'd with a little olive oil and vegetables too - it really adds some nice flavor compliments and depth to whatever you put it on. Even something as simple as bread dipped in olive oil that has oregano in it tastes and feels like a wholesome snack.
Oregano is great! I used oregano oil to get rid of my blatter infection and candida. Works perfect.
I always enjoy your posts @jackdub. Lots of very quality information. Also some great pics like the bee. And the .gif is cool.
Thanks @steven-patrick - I get a chuckle out of the .gif because the other oregano flower heads look nervous with their shaking - I might be spending too much time in the garden lol