Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Herb guide to Summer Savory along with all the Summer Savory containing recipes presented on this site, with 4 recipes in total.

e This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Summer Savory as a major herb flavouring.

Summer Savory, Satureja hortensis is the best known of the two savory species these days. It is a native of the Mediterranean and is a member of the Lamiaceae (mint) family. Summer Savory is a hardy, pubescent annual, with slender erect stems about a 30cm. It flowers in July, having small, pale lilac labiate flowers, axillary, on short pedicels, the common peduncle sometimes three-flowered. The leaves, about 1cm long, are entire, oblong-linear, acute, shortly narrowed at the base into petioles, often fascicled. The hairs on the stem are short and decurved.



As a pot herb Summer savory has a distinctive pungent taste and strongly aromatic aroma that is somewhat reminiscent of thyme, ajwain and marjoram and is often added to stuffings, pork pies and sausages as a wholesome seasoning. Fresh sprigs may also oiled with broad beans and green peas, in the same manner as mint. It is also boiled with dried peas in making pea-soup. For garnishing it has been used as a substitute for parsley and chervil. The pungency of savory is destroyed by cooking and, in common with many herbs, savory should be added towards the end of cooking.



Leaves of good specimens of summer savoury contain up to 2% essential oil, the main component of which is carvacrol, a position isomer of thymol. p-cymene, α-pinene, dipentene, borneol, 1-linalool, terpineol and 1-carvone are also present.



The English name savory is derived from the Latin satureia (which is also the genus name of the plant). Though the hame has also been influenced by the adjective savoury (meaning 'spicy') via Middle English savery and Old French sarree (both of which derive from Classical Latin sapor (flavour). Summer savory is so named because this annual plant is typically harvested in summer, when it can be dried for later winter use.



Though the flavours of the two are broadly similar, summer savory is generally preferred over winter savory for use in sausage meat because it has a sweeter, more delicate, aroma and is much less pungency. Of all cuisines it plays the most dominant role in Bulgarian cooking, providing a strong and pungent flavour to the most simple and the most extravagant of dishes. Also, instead of the more common salt and pepper, a Bulgarian table will have three condiments: salt, paprika and savory. When these are mixed it is called sharena sol (colourful salt).