Oregano (rigani)

This powerful oregano is picked on the island of Crete, the island where the mountain slopes are colored by a carpet of flowering herbs in the summer. The flavor is so concentrated that it is advisable to use the oregano sparingly. Give a boost to your pizza, egg dish or salad with this unique herb.

Note: Oregano leaves can be (considerably) finer than those shown in the picture! Gradation: 2-5 mm

Oregano is the popular name for wild marjoram, a plant from the Lamiaceae family. The use of oregano on pizza and in salads in Italian and Greek cuisine is famous, especially in combination with tomato and eggplant. However, oregano is not only used in European cuisine, but also in Latin American cuisine.

Like the real marjoram (Origanum majorana), oregano is woody. The leaves are larger, have a stalk, are slightly hairy and green on both sides. Oregano is often harvested  'on the stem'. That is why in many oregano the stem and leaf are processed together.

In our oregano this is not the case, the leaves are stripped from the stems after harvesting. Furthermore, our oregano is harvested early in the summer, shortly before flowering, when the leaves are at their most flavoursome. This wild-growing oregano, which is called rígani in Crete, has by nature and through the careful method of harvesting and processing a more powerful and broader flavour palette than dried, cultivated oregano, but is also more powerful than fresh oregano.

Therefore, use it to give a dish (hot or cold) a boost. Be more frugal with this wild oregano than you may be used to. Prevent the powerful taste of this wild oregano from dominating other flavor components. The more delicate the dish, the more it is worth considering using marjoram instead of oregano. A rule of thumb this includes:

• rustic Mediterranean and southern French dishes oregano,
  
• refined northern French dishes: marjoram.

Smell and taste

The taste and smell of oregano is determined by carvacrol (spicy and bitter), thymol (thyme), myrcene (peppery) and sabinene. The latter provides the sweet notes.

Usage

As strange as it may sound, oregano lends itself not only to savoury dishes but also to sweet dishes, even ice cream or yoghurt. A favourite application however is oregano in combination with garlic and lemon, for example as a flavouring for (fatty) lamb, and on or in egg dishes.

Add dried oregano at the very last moment. The best time to add dried herbs is at most ten minutes before the end of a preparation. This is enough time for the leaves to absorb moisture again and transfer the flavour to the dish.

Did you know that the flavor of these dried herbs comes out best when you let the herbs absorb liquid in oil for a while, so that they can transfer their flavor to the oil? Then you cook with this aromatic oil.

Features:

• 100% dried leaf (zipped) of the Origanum vulgare - wild
• origin: Greece (Crete)
• batch: 220242

Assortment

• available in glass and stand-up pouch (no test tubes)
• larger quantities on request

Gift wrapping

• The jar is available in a tasteful gift packaging, consisting of a cube box filled with black tissue paper
• For an overview of our gift packaging, please refer to the gift packaging section
  

General advice

• store the oregano in a dark, dry and cool place
  
• the expiration date is an indication

Save:

• store your oregano in a closed container
• preferably store in a dark, dry and cool place
• at least good until June 2026 (06/2026)
• This expiration date is an indication

Batch number

The batch number helps us trace which supply an item originates from. It is stated on the packing slip and the invoice