Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓
Herb Powder for Flavoring
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare and dry the herbs by picking the leaves from the stalks.
Pound the leaves and sift them through a fine sieve.
Mix and store
Mix the herbs in the specified proportions.
Store the mixture in glass bottles, ensuring to exclude air.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,225 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
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Thyme + winter savorytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together780 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Winter savory + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together455 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together688 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
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Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Dried lemon-thyme
- Provides the main aromatic base flavour of the blend.
- Dried winter savory
- Adds a peppery, aromatic note that carries the blend's flavour.
- Dried sweet marjoram
- Contributes a sweet, floral aroma typical of herb blends.
- Dried basil
- Adds a sweet, clove-like aroma that rounds out the mixture.
- Dried parsley
- Supplies bulk and a mild, fresh green flavour to the powder.
- Dried lemon-peel
- Adds bright citrus aroma and acidity to the blend.
The step that matters
Drying and sifting the herbs. Herbs must be fully dry before pounding, or they clump and turn to paste instead of powder. Sifting removes coarse stalk fragments, and sealing the jars against air limits the loss of volatile aromatic oils over time.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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