Surprisingly, when dried, this plant is often confused with thyme. Sure, the smell is vaguely similar, but thyme lacks that characteristic peppery flavor. Actually, there are two types of savory - annual garden savory, or garden savory (Satureja hortensis) and perennial dwarf shrub mountain savory(Satureja montana)... Both species are very popular in Europe, primarily in Germany, France, Spain, the Balkans and Hungary. The aroma of their oils is similar to thyme and monarda due to the presence of significant amounts of thymol and carvacrol. And thanks to these components, savory has long had not only nutritional value.
Let's start with garden savory, which is more suitable for cultivation in the Non-Chernozem zone due to the absence of the need to winter in our harsh conditions and relative early maturity.
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Spice and preservative
As a spicy flavoring plant, garden savory has been used since ancient times. It has always been considered the ideal spice for flavoring oils, vinegars and sausages. As modern research shows, this observation has a scientific basis. Savory leaves are rich in phenolic compounds, modern scientists primarily isolate rosmarinic acid, which is an excellent antioxidant and effectively prevents oils from going rancid, especially in the absence of a refrigerator. Savory also contains an essential oil with a large proportion of thymol, which is a good antiseptic and inhibits the development of almost any microorganisms, including those that cause food spoilage.
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Savory recipes:
- Homemade marinated carrots with mustard
- Chicken breast in the sleeve with apples and banana "Festive"
- Chicken with spices and nuts "Guruli"
- Salad with vegetables and chickpeas with a spicy dressing
- Whole tomatoes "Fragrant"
- Roasted piglet with aromatic herbs
- Herb Puff Pie Pies
- Couscous salad with cherry tomatoes and French herbs
Medicinal properties
For its antimicrobial properties, the plant has been actively used and is used in medicine.
The aerial part, cut off during flowering, is used as an antiseptic, carminative, stimulating digestion, as well as a stomach and expectorant. When taken orally, it helps with colic, a feeling of fullness in the stomach, diarrhea, especially associated with an infection. Inside in the form of tea or infusion mixed with other anti-cold plants used for cough in bronchitis, tracheitis, laryngitis. You can do inhalations by pouring boiling water over the dry raw materials in a bowl, and then breathe over the rising steam.
In the scientific literature, there is evidence that savory, when ingested and as a food product, is effective in obesity, especially associated with type 2 diabetes.
This plant is also grown for the purpose of obtaining essential oils for cooking and aromatherapy, which has been gaining popularity in recent decades. Major oil producers: Italy, Bulgaria, USA, Dalmatia and France. The essential oil is obtained by steam distillation from a fresh or dried plant. The oil yield is from 0.3 to 1.7% (in rare cases, it can reach 3% or more). It is a colorless to light yellow, readily mobile liquid with a spicy and pungent taste. If plants are processed in dry form, then the yield of essential oil will be higher, and its color is slightly darker. The oil contains carvacrol, thymol, γ-terpinene, β-cymene, β-caryophyllene, linalool and other components. It is interesting that thymol (29-43%) predominates in wild-growing forms, and carvacrol (42-63%) in varieties. The total content of phenols (namely, thymol and carvacrol) also varies depending on the place of cultivation, the phase of plant development and origin from 12 to 73%. In addition to essential oil, as already mentioned, there are rosemary and ursolic acids, as well as the flavonoids hesperidin and naringenin, which give the raw material bitterness.In the aerial part, 4-8% of tannins, mucus, bitterness, sitosterol and more than 200 mg /% of ascorbic acid were found.
Outwardly, both oil and herb infusion are used for rinsing with stomatitis and gingivitis, with fresh leaves they rub the places of insect bites. When in contact with the skin, the oil has a warming and irritating effect. The infusion is used to rinse hair in case of hair loss, incipient baldness and dandruff. Moreover, if for infusion for internal consumption they take 1 teaspoon per glass, then here it is better to take more raw materials - 1 tablespoon.
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In Iranian folk medicine, savory was used externally as a pain reliever for muscle pain and sprains. As modern studies have shown, hydroalcoholic extracts from the aerial part of the plant (and, in everyday language, vodka tincture) in the form of a compress really relieves pain well. At the same time, when comparing the tincture, the amount of polyphenols isolated from plants, and essential oil, it was found that they all had an analgesic effect, and the essential oil and polyphenol fraction also reduced edema. Therefore, a few drops of essential oil mixed with a tablespoon of olive oil is a good homemade ointment for sprains, myositis and radiculitis.
If there is no essential oil, then you can take dry plants and insist them in sunflower oil. Moreover, it is better to do this as follows: take raw materials and pour oil. Insist for 5-7 days in a warm, dark place in a well-sealed jar or bottle, then strain and pour the next portion of raw materials with this oil, and then repeat the process again. This will allow the vegetable oil to be saturated with essential oil more strongly, and for external use you will get what you need. For internal use as a salad oil, you can limit yourself to one serving of raw materials.
Animal studies have shown the antioxidant activity of extracts from garden savory in general, as well as its polyphenolic fraction. And they associate this property with the presence of rosmarinic acid, which, in addition, has antiallergic properties. In vitro, the addition of an aqueous extract from savory doubled the activity of catalase and superoxide dismutase, enzymes that fight free radicals and oxidative stress.
It is used in the perfumery and cosmetic industry and to create spicy-aromatic compositions in the food industry.
Contraindications Savory is contraindicated as a medicinal plant during pregnancy.
Quite a lot of interesting studies have been carried out to study the antimicrobial activity of a plant as a whole, and individual fractions isolated from it. In particular,essential oil suppressed the development of yeast-like fungi Candida albicans (causative agent of thrush) and C. glabrataas well as gram-positive microorganismsStreptococcus sanguis, Streptococcus salivarius and the well-known and invincible Staphylococcus aureus (Staphylococcus aureus) and gram-negative pathogens of intestinal disorders Shigella flexeneri, Shigella dysantri, as well as one of the causative agents of pneumonia Klebsiella pneumoniae... Interestingly, in this antimicrobial effect, not only the main components - thymol, carvacrol, but also minor ones like pinene are important. If the components were taken separately, then their effectiveness was often lower than in the mixture.
Vegetable garden defender
Old books on gardening indicate that if you plant savory next to legumes, then it repels pests that damage the crop. In modern detailed studies, activity against diseases of vegetable seedlings has been noted. The results of Turkish researchers have shown that the extraction of a mixture of hexane and methanol from the aerial part of the plant can be used as a means to combat blackleg pathogens (Clavibactermichiganensis ssp. michiganensis, Xanthomonasaxanopodis) in lettuce and tomato seedlings by treating seeds before germination at a concentration of 2.5 mg / ml.But the essential inhibited seed germination a little. But this is still more from the field of scientific research.
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