Savory
(Satureja hortensis)

About Savory

The very name tells one something about the qualities of this flavoring, described as having a "bold, peppery" taste. Most sources (that is, seedsmen's catalogues) say that summer savory is slightly milder and less "pungent" than its close cousin, winter savory (which, however, is a perennial); but the authoritative herbalist Gernot Katzer (see the links below) says the tastes of the two are indistinguishable. (It is said that cooks prefer the summer type.) But if we have summer savory available indoors year round, there is really no need for winter savory.

Cultivars

The named variety Aromata is reported as having more "essential oils", and thus to be more intensely flavored, than "common" summer savory. Few or no other named types seem in evidence.

Planting

Note: summer-savory seed is short-lived. Always plant with fresh, newly bought seed..

Summer savory is not terribly fussy, but its ideal is a rich, light soil with plenty of moisture and a hot, dry, sunny position. It prefers a slightly alkaline soil, but, again, is not fussy; it is, though, like so many herbs, intolerant of damp soils and of shade.

Whether growing it indoors or out, seed it where it is to grow: it violently dislikes being transplanted. Sow seed carefully: just place it on the surface, then gently sift a trace of soil over it to just cover. (If being planted outdoors, summer savory can be spaced at 6 inches in a deep-dug bed.) Germination is typically about 2 weeks.

Growing

Summer savory is a fast-growing plant: it can be harvested within 2 months of sowing. When the plant reaches a reasonable height, pinch off the growing points; that will encourage bushing and increase productivity.

If summer savory is cut back as the flower buds appear, it will supposedly produce a fresh flush of leaves.

Relevant Links

Besides any links presented above on this page, the following ought to be especially helpful.

• Summer Savory - from Gernot Katzer's immensely valuable Spice Dictionary

• Summer Savory - an informative page from the Saskatchewan Herb and Spice Association's "Herbs for the Prairies" site

• Plants For a Future Database: Summer Savory - lots of data on the plant, and links to yet more

If you find this site interesting or useful, please link to it on your site by cutting and pasting this HTML:
The <a href="http://growingtaste.com/"><b>Growing Taste</b></a> Vegetable-Gardening Site

--Site Directory--

Search this site, or the web

	Web growingtaste.com

• Background Information about the purposes and design of this site
  • Site Front Page
  • Introduction
    • Our Climate--
      • Our Location (USDA Zone Map)
      • Daily Weather Table
      • Our Freeze Risks
      • Our Garden Design
  • An Apologia: why one should cultivate one's garden
  • Deep-Bed Gardening (forthcoming)
  • Container Gardening (forthcoming)
  • Vegetarian and Organic Considerations (forthcoming)
  
  
  
• Recommended Crops for a home garden, by variety
  • Vegetable Varieties
  • Herb and Spice Varieties
  • Fruit and Berry Varieties
  
  
  
• Gardening information and aids
  • Tools and Equipment
    • Garden Tools (forthcoming)
    • Seed-Starting (forthcoming)
    • Colored Plastic Mulches
  • A Garden Calendar
  • Suppliers for Recommended Varieties
  • Estimated Seed Life in Storage
  
  
  
• Miscellaneous Information of interest to the home gardener
  • Links:
    • Vegetable-Gardening Links
    • On-Line Vegetable Seed & Plant Sellers
  • About Oxalic Acid in Vegetables
  • About Induction Cooking [now at a site of its own: The Induction Site]
  • So Who Are We?
  
  
  
• Books on "Vegetables" and vegetable gardening, both new and used
  In reality, we have six bookshops, one for each of the six national divisions of Amazon books; the links farther below are to the U.S.-based shop, but you can visit any of the six:
  

  ·  U.S. ·  Canada ·  U.K. ·  Germany  (only books in English listed) ·  France  (only books in English listed) ·  Japan  (only books in English listed)

  
  In our U.S.A. Bookshop:
  • About Our Bookshop - including many specific book recommendations
  • "Vegetables" Books Available New Today:
    • "Vegetables" Books By Title:
      (vegetables book titles beginning with the word "vegetables" are broken out separately in the alphabetical title lists below)
      A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | non-letters
    • The "Vegetables"-Books "Master List" (a very large file!)
  • Search For Any New Book at Amazon
  • Search For Any Used Book at Abebooks

Since you're growing your own vegetables and fruits, shouldn't you be cooking them in the best way possible? Visit The Induction Site to find out what that best way is!

This site is one of The Owlcroft Company family of web sites. Please click on the link (or the owl) to see a menu of our other diverse user-friendly, helpful sites.

Like all our sites, this one is hosted at the highly regarded Pair Networks, whom we strongly recommend. We invite you to click on the Pair link (or their logo) for more information on getting your site or sites hosted on a first-class service.

Click here to send us email.

---

So that you need not be a victim of the "Browser Wars," we have taken the trouble to assure that
this web page is 100% compliant with the World Wide Web Consortium's
XHTML Protocol v1.0 (Transitional).
You can click on the logo below to test this page!

Not every browser renders proper HTML correctly (Internet Explorer famously does not);
We strongly recommend the widely praised free, multi-platform Firefox browser.
Click on the image below to read all about it.

(It's free!)

You loaded this page on Friday, 19 March 2010, at 19:14 EDT.;
it was last modified on Monday, 23 February 2009, at 21:59 EST.

All content copyright ©1999 - 2010 by The Owlcroft Company