OREGANO

also called Origanum, flavourful dried leaves and flowering tops of any of various perennial herbs of the mint family (Lamiaceae, or Labiatae), particularly Origanum vulgare, called wild marjoram in northern and central Europe, widely used to season many foods. The name is derived from the Greek oros, mountain, and ganos, joy. Oregano has long been an essential ingredient of Mediterranean cooking. Pliny the Elder thought it a remedy for bad digestion. The aroma, strong and aromatic, and the taste, warm, pungent, and bitter, are prominent in Italian cooking and in robust dishes of certain other cuisines, such as the Mexican chili con carne. In the United States the use of oregano rose sharply in the late 20th century, owing largely to the popularity of pizza. Italians call it the mushroom herb but use it with many other foods as well. The Spanish word organo means marjoram, and the herbs are sometimes used interchangeably. Native to the hills of the Mediterranean countries and western Asia, the herbs were brought to the Western Hemisphere in early times and are naturalized in parts of Mexico and the United States. All varieties contain essential oil. In some, the principal component of the oil is thymol, in others carvacrol.