Name: Soup-herb Powder, or Vegetable Relish
Ingredients: 2 ounces dried parsley; 2 ounces winter savory; 2 ounces sweet marjoram; 2 ounces lemon-thyme; 1 ounce lemon-peel, cut thin and dried; 1 ounce sweet basil; 1 teaspoon bay leaves (optional); 1 teaspoon celery seed (optional)

Why it works: Marjoram and thyme 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 ↓

Soup-herb Powder, or Vegetable Relish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Dry the herbs in a warm Dutch oven, avoiding strong heat.
Once dried, pound the herbs in a mortar.
Sift the powdered herbs through a fine sieve.

Store

Store in a tightly sealed bottle to retain fragrance and flavor.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,225 recipes

Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
Winter savory + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together780 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Winter savory + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together455 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together688 recipes

Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked 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 parsley: Provides a fresh, green, mild herbal flavor as the base of the blend.
Winter savory: Adds a peppery, thyme-like note that gives the powder its savory character.
Sweet marjoram: Contributes a sweet, floral aroma that rounds out the herb blend.
Lemon-thyme: Adds bright citrus-like aroma alongside the savory herbs.
Lemon-peel: Contributes concentrated citrus aroma and a sharper, brighter flavor.
Sweet basil: Adds sweet, aromatic herbal flavor to the blend.

The step that matters

Drying the herbs gently. Strong heat drives off volatile aromatic oils and can scorch the herbs, dulling fragrance and adding bitterness. Low, gentle warmth dries them while preserving the flavor that makes the powder worth making.

Swap the celery

The recipe marks celery as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, winter savory, marjoram, lemon, thyme, basil):

Sagefits better
Tarragonfits better
Oreganofits better
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, winter savory, marjoram, lemon, thyme, basil. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.

Lemon Whey33 recipes

Lemon Wine31 recipes

Lemon Squash10 recipes

Lemon Essence8 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Soup-herb Powder, or Vegetable Relish