Thursday 9 June 2016

ALL ABOUT ROSEMARY

“There’s rosemary and rue. These keep Seeming and savour all the winter long. Grace and remembrance be to you.” - William Shakespeare (Winter’s Tale, Act 4, Scene 4)

Rosmarinus officinalis, commonly known as rosemary, is a woody, perennial herb with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native to the Mediterranean region. It is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae, which includes many other herbs. The name “rosemary” derives from the Latin for ‘dew’ (ros) and ‘sea’ (marinus), or ‘dew of the sea’. The plant is also sometimes called anthos, from the ancient Greek word ἄνθος, meaning “flower”.


Rosemary is an aromatic evergreen shrub that has leaves similar to eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) needles. The leaves are used as a flavouring in foods such as stuffings and roast lamb, pork, chicken and turkey. It is native to the Mediterranean and Asia, but is reasonably hardy in cool climates. It can withstand droughts, surviving a severe lack of water for lengthy periods. Forms range from upright to trailing; the upright forms can reach 1.5 m tall, rarely 2 m. The leaves are evergreen, 2–4 cm long and 2–5 mm broad, green above, and greyish-white below, with dense, short, woolly hair. It has a fibrous root system. The plant flowers in spring and summer in temperate climates, but the plants can be in constant bloom in warm climates; flowers are white, pink, purple or deep blue. Rosemary also has a tendency to flower outside its normal flowering season; it has been known to flower as late as early December, and as early as mid-February.


Since it is attractive and drought-tolerant, rosemary is used as an ornamental plant in gardens and for xeriscape landscaping, especially in regions of Mediterranean climate. It is considered easy to grow and pest-resistant. Rosemary can grow quite large and retain attractiveness for many years, can be pruned into formal shapes and low hedges, and has been used for topiary. It is easily grown in pots. The groundcover cultivars spread widely, with a dense and durable texture.


Rosemary grows on friable loam soil with good drainage in an open, sunny position. It will not withstand waterlogging and some varieties are susceptible to frost. It grows best in neutral to alkaline conditions (pH 7–7.8) with average fertility. It can be propagated from an existing plant by clipping a shoot (from a soft new growth) 10–15 cm long, stripping a few leaves from the bottom, and planting it directly into soil.


According to legend, rosemary was draped around the Greek goddess Aphrodite when she rose from the sea, born of Uranus’s semen. Hence the herb was sacred to this goddess and was planted around her temples. In Christian tradition, the Virgin Mary is said to have spread her blue cloak over a white-blossomed rosemary bush when she was resting, and the flowers turned blue. The shrub then became known as the “Rose of Mary”. In the Middle Ages, rosemary was associated with wedding ceremonies. The bride would wear a rosemary headpiece and the groom and wedding guests would all wear a sprig of rosemary. From this association with weddings, rosemary was thought to be a love charm.


In myths and folklore, rosemary has a reputation for improving memory and has been used as a symbol for remembrance during war commemorations and funerals in Europe and Australia. Mourners would throw it into graves as a symbol of remembrance for the dead. In Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, Ophelia says: ‘There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.’ (Hamlet, iv. 5.) In Australia, sprigs of rosemary are worn on ANZAC Day and sometimes Remembrance Day to signify remembrance; the herb grows wild on the Gallipoli Peninsula.


Hungary water was first prepared for the Queen of Hungary Elisabeth of Poland to “... renovate vitality of paralysed limbs...” and to treat gout. It was used externally and prepared by mixing fresh rosemary tops into spirits of wine. Recipes for this call for: Distilling fresh rosemary (and possibly thyme) with strong brandy, while later formulations also contain lavender, mint, sage, marjoram, costus, orange blossom and lemon. Don Quixote (Part One, Chapter XVII) mixes it in his recipe of the miraculous balm of Fierabras. Rosemary oil is used for purposes of fragrant bodily perfumes or to emit an aroma into a room. It is also burnt as incense, and used in shampoos and cleaning products.


Fresh or dried rosemary leaves are used in traditional Italian, Spanish and Greek cuisine. They have a bitter, astringent taste and a characteristic aroma, which complements many cooked foods. When roasted with meats or vegetables, the leaves impart a mustard-like aroma with an additional fragrance of charred wood compatible with barbecued foods. In Greece, rosemary is often used to flavour baked or fried fish. In amounts typically used to flavour foods, such as one teaspoon (1 gram), rosemary provides no nutritional value. Rosemary extract has been shown to improve the shelf life and heat stability of omega 3-rich oils, which are prone to rancidity. A herbal tisane can be made from the leaves of rosemary.


In the language of flowers, rosemary sprigs (without flowers) stand for “remembrance. Rosemary in flower stands for “nostalgia and sweet memories.”


This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Food Friday meme.

No comments:

Post a Comment