Rosemary is an important kitchen herb and spice. It is a component of the herb mixture “Herbs de Provence”. It is used for its needle-shaped leaves, which not only look like pine needles, but also have a resinous scent and bitter taste. The bitter substances are even used to give some types of beer a tart taste. Rosemary develops its aromas best when grilled and roasted and is often added to compound butter. It also harmonises with sweet dishes.

The very aromatic rosemary oil is a component of classic perfumes. Omega-3-rich oil does not become rancid so quickly when rosemary oil is added. This may be due to its antimicrobial effect. The use of rosemary or its distillates as a fragrant and medicinal plant was long in the foreground before the plant found its way into our dishes as a kitchen herb.

Rosemary has its home in the Mediterranean, where it likes to grow near the coast. This is probably the reason for its name, which means “sea dew”, more precisely “dew (ros) of the sea (marinus)”, but there are also etymological connections to incense, to which it is very similar in olfactory terms.

• Edible Leaves
• Culinary Group Kitchen Herbs
• Taste bitter resinous
• Trivial Names Rosmarin, Rosemary, Romarin, Romero
• Size 33 cm
• Taxonomy Lamiaceae (Deadnettle family) Salvia rosmarinus, Syn. Rosmarinus officinalis
• Origin Mediterraneum (Map)
• Locality Wissenschaftsgarten Frankfurt (FRG) 2020