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 drachm day-leaves (optional); 1 drachm 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

Make the powder

Dry the herbs in a warm Dutch oven until completely dried.
Pound the dried herbs in a mortar until fine.
Sift the powdered herbs through a double hair‑sieve.

Store

Store the powder 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: Adds a fresh, green herbal flavor to the blended powder.
Winter savory: Contributes a peppery, aromatic flavor that gives the powder its depth.
Sweet marjoram: Provides a sweet, floral aroma that rounds out the herb mix.
Lemon-thyme: Adds citrusy, aromatic notes that brighten the soup flavor.
Lemon peel: Contributes concentrated citrus aroma and a bright, acidic flavor.
Sweet basil: Adds sweet, clove-like aroma to the powder.

The step that matters

Dry the herbs completely. Herbs that retain moisture will not grind to a fine powder and can spoil or clump in storage. Thorough drying also concentrates flavor and keeps the powder shelf-stable.

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.

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Soup-herb Powder, or Vegetable Relish