Step away from the oregano

As you may have guessed from previous posts, I love to cook and experiment with different recipes and herbs.

I have to confess, before coming to Italy I often cooked with (GASP!!) dried herbs from the supermarket.

So, upon moving here to Italy, O and I went shopping and I went over to the spice shelf and picked up a jar of oregano.  He looked at me incredulously and asked me what I needed it for.  At that point I was thinking, here I am in Italy and he doesn’t know what I need oregano for?  Was this some misunderstanding like French Fries and English Muffins?  Do Italians not put oregano on pizza and use it in other dishes?

I returned his quizzical look and told him I needed it to cook with.  His response at that point was, “if you buy that oregano my mother will kill you.”  Now, don’t go thinking it’s because he’s a mammone.  No, it’s because she had jars of the stuff at her house.  But then, how was I to know the stuff grows wild around here and she dries and jars it every year?

Since then, I’ve got oregano hanging in my pantry

along with the bayleaf that we picked one day when we went out for a walk

and the mysterious erba pepe that also grows wild and is cultivated around here

Then there’s parsley, sage, rosemary, basil (fooled you, you thought I was going to say thyme, didn’t you?), ecc.

No more grocery store bought herbs for me.  It would be taking my life in my hands.

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