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Soup-herb Powder, or Vegetable Relish

A dried herb powder made from parsley, savory, marjoram, thyme, lemon peel, basil, bay leaves, and celery seed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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

Dry and grind

  1. Dry the herbs in a warm Dutch oven, but not too hot.

  2. Once completely dried, pound them in a mortar.

  3. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve.

Store

  1. Store in a tightly sealed bottle to retain fragrance and flavor for several months.

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.

  1. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Winter savory + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together780 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Winter savory + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together455 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  5. 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 the green, fresh herbal base flavor of the blend.
Winter savory
Adds a peppery, aromatic note that gives the blend depth.
Sweet marjoram
Contributes a warm, sweet herbal aroma.
Lemon-thyme
Adds a citrusy, aromatic character from its volatile oils.
Lemon peel
Supplies bright citrus aroma and flavor from its essential oils.
Sweet basil
Adds sweet, aromatic flavor to the mixture.

The step that matters

Drying the herbs gently. The herbs must be fully dry before pounding, since residual moisture makes the powder clump and can spoil it. Gentle, moderate heat dries them without scorching or driving off the volatile oils that carry their fragrance and flavor.

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):

  1. Sagefits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Oreganofits better
  4. 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.

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