June 8, 2020 • 38 mins
This family of herbs lends warm, woody flavors to all kinds of dishes, and has been used medicinally for millennia. Anney and Lauren explore the science and history of oregano and marjoram.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hello, I'm welcome to save our production of I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren vocal Baum. And today
we're talking about a Regano and Marjoram. Yes, and it
is a fun day in our home studios because here
in Atlanta there's a thunderstorm, a pretty a pretty epic one. Yes. Yes,
so ambiance. Yes, this is the very most goth discussion
(00:31):
of Regano and marge Room that anyone will ever have. Yes,
it's exactly what your listeners needed in your life. I
am sure positive. So this is a topic that's been
on my mind because I've been getting a regane as
a part of my c s a um and it
(00:54):
is one of the few things that I am successfully growing.
I tried to throw a lot of things so far
only was taken a Regano and mins um. So yeah,
and I use some last night. Have you been like
rooting them in water? Yes? Uh yeah, yeah yeah, and
they I've just been using like cuttings and stuff, and I, um,
(01:16):
it grows pretty fast. I gotta say, I got a
lot of it. Um and I used some last night
for the first time when I was cooking. It smelled
so good. Oh yeah, yeah, huzzah, yeah, I am. I
use I used dried um, oregano and marge room in
cooking all the time, any time that I'm making anything
like even vaguely mediterranean. E uh, those things go in there. Um.
(01:41):
But I don't think i've ever I'm trying to think
I've ever ever ever had it fresh, aside from like
maybe in like a like a little like poultry bundle
of of herbs or something. But I'm not sure. It's
delicious um smell alone excellent, um love how fuzzy it is?
(02:01):
Oh yeah, yeah, we're going to talk about that. Yes. Well.
On the other hand, though, before we did this research,
I could not have told you what marjor room was.
I had to look up how to pronounce it. And
when you suggested we should do oregano and margor room,
I was like, huh okay, because I had no idea
what it was. I thought. I was like, are they related?
(02:24):
I don't know. But this is a big learning one
for me. Fun who's that? Yeah? Learning? Learning is great.
We're we're all in the business of learning. We are,
we're big proponents of it. But alright, I guess that
brings us to our question, a regano in marge room.
(02:46):
What are they? Good question? Um? Okay, all right, Well, Uh,
Regano and marjor rom are are herbs with a small,
soft green leaves that have a similar but kind of
varyingly peppery, citrusy, savory, woody, and uh and bitter flavors.
(03:07):
And they come from a number of different species within uh,
within a few genuses, but kind of mostly um originum.
And there's some etymology madness involved in this one. Oh yes,
So the name oregano means joy of the mountain, although
the word itself might have originally come from somewhere else. Meanwhile,
(03:31):
marjoram probably derived from Sanskrit, but it sounded close to
the word for greater in Latin, which led to the
French word margerin, which was picked up and spelled in
a variety of different ways in English until the current
English spelling was settled on sometime in the seventeen hundreds. Confusingly,
a regano means marjoram and Spanish, and in parts of
(03:52):
Europe oregano goes by wild marjoram, and margor room goes
by sweet marjoram and quick clarification or gonnam used roy
with the mountain in Greek. Okay, yes, yes, so a
lot going on there right right? Uh so okay, So
so Marjoram is just one species originum majarana um, and
(04:15):
a regano is a common term for a whole bunch
of different species. Um. It's really a word for like
a flavor profile more than a single plant. Um that
that originalm that the genus is part of the lamiassi
a family, the mint family, and this genus contains some species,
and all of them, usually except for the one that
(04:36):
is Marjoram, are called oregano um. Plus, there are whole
other genuses Limpya and Hedioma and um lantana, some of
which are native to whole other parts of the world,
that get colloquially lumped in with oregano um. Some of
them aren't even in the same botanical family. I read
(04:57):
one medical paper that said that there are at least
sixty one species and seventeen genuses in six different families
that are called a regano simple not using at all, Nope,
zero percent. So this is all to say that if
you have a jar of dried o regano in your kitchen.
(05:18):
The specific plant that is in it could vary. Um.
Though that said, um, there are a few species that
are most commonly used in cooking. UM common oregano or
um originem bulgary has a bright flavor. Mexican oregano or
Lippia Gravio lens has like a more peppery flavor. Spanish
and Greek oreganos u of vivans and oh hair Clete's
(05:41):
um are a little bit milder. Marjoram meanwhile, is a
little bit warmer and a little bit less bitter. Sometimes again,
it can it can vary. Wow, what's going on here? Yep, yep, yep,
yep and uh. And as we said, these can be
used fresh or dried. Yes, yes, And they're used in
(06:02):
all kinds of cuisines and in all kinds of waves.
The flowers are also edible. The European versions are particularly
popular in cuisines from the border of the Mediterranean see
because that's where they're pretty much originally from. Um they
are known mostly in America as like an Italian cuisine
flavor mm hmm yes, uh and sweet margorroom is often
(06:28):
one of the ingredients in absent here you go, our
old friend abs. Wow. What about nutrition? Okay, As with
many herbs, you're probably not eating enough of this stuff
to have like a macro nutrient impact on your diet um.
But but these herbs can can provide a big bang
(06:49):
of flavor for a small cloric buck. So they're really
great to incorporate into your cooking and your diet um.
And also okay, uh, these these herbs, like pretty much
any herb, that that if you run your hand just
gently through um, through bush of it, or or across
a branch of it, and you come away with the
(07:09):
scent of that herb on your hand. Um, that means
that this herb evolved to produce some oils that keep
pests away as so, and and and specifically the reason
that some of them are are fuzzy on the leaves
are those little fuzzy hairs help keep the oils on
the surface. Uh and and therefore you know, keep keep
(07:30):
it right there so that if an insect comes along,
it goes, oh eat it, go, get get it off me,
get away, never mind, not gonna eat this one. Uman,
While I'm like, yes again, humans decided we liked that,
So it's really effective. Against like microbes and funguses and
insects and some animals, but humans are like oh delicious
(07:51):
poison yea um, not that it acts is poison in us.
It can actually be helpful medicinally and a regular and
marjoram have been used in folk medicine for pretty much ever,
for things from asthma to indigestion, and are currently being
studied for all kinds of helpful properties antioxidant, antibacterial, antimycotic,
(08:11):
anti inflammatory, anti diabetic. UM. Extracted oils are already being
used in livestock feed to help prevent gut infections and
thus prevent the use of antibiotics. And from some of
the studies I read, it seems that they both stimulate
um those animals guts to uh produce this like protective
gut mucus UM. But then further can can weaken bacteria
(08:34):
cell walls, leading to eventual cell death. UM. And this
is especially cool because of the overuse of antibiotics in
in well everything honestly, but uh but but so hopefully
this can be with with with more research, Uh, this
can be turned into something that can do a lot
(08:55):
of good in the world. UM. As with anything the
saver motto. Uh, you know, bodies are complicated. More research
needs to be done before incorporating any medicinal dose of
anything into your diet. You should definitely consult a doctor.
Um be be be be wary of snake oil um
(09:16):
always Yeah, yeah, I like, I just want to note
here listeners as Laurence said that there was a flash
of lightning behind her and then a roll of thunder.
And I used to have a history professor who would like,
whenever that would happen, he would say, Hollywood couldn't do
it better. I just got reminded of that, very dramatic.
(09:38):
Oh that's great. I was so into thinking about microbes
that I wasn't even paying attention. I'm I'm into it though.
It was awesome, very dramatic. Indeed, we do have a
couple of numbers for you. Americans import fourty million pounds
of a regano a year, making it our top in
(10:00):
court with when it comes to herbs like this, both
quantity wise and value wise. Okay, we like, we like
some oregano here. We do number one, cause we'll get
into that. It is we do. We do eat a
lot of pizza, and it is like a a pizza
e herb. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Oh, and I did
want to note Reagano is the name of a computer
(10:20):
programming language. There you go, all right, cool yeah, cool
cool cool? Uh. And Oregano and marge room have quite
the interesting history. Hollywood couldn't do it better. Yes, and
we will get into that as soon as we get
back from a quick break for a word from our sponsor,
(10:50):
and we're back, Thank you sponsored, Yes, thank you. So
keeping the history of oregano and marge room separate is
in writably difficult because the names were often used interchangeably
in historical records, and some other herbs got mixed up
in there too, so shrug emoji. Historians think that historically
(11:15):
marge room was more widely used, except in the Mediterranean,
where Oregano was preferred, so that's sort of the where
they work from. But yeah, um, and and this interchangeability
uh of of names and the records is why I
was just like, oh, nope, we can't do one or
the other of those. Let's just yea, let's just roll
(11:38):
with the whole mess. Yeah, roll with the whole mess
another savor motto. So both most likely originated in the
Mediterranean and perhaps specifically in Greece. Some sources indicate that
the ancient Egyptians were cultivating oregano over three thousand years ago.
Some of the first records date back to sometime between
(11:59):
seen hundred to twelve b C. There are these images
recorded by the Hittites and what is now modern day Syria.
Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates is believed to be the first
to use originum in written records, so four hundred sixty
seventy ish in the first century b C. E. Marjor
Room was mentioned in the poem Epithalamium by catalysts Catillus
(12:23):
Catullus Aristophaney's Women in Power from three b C references
Marjorom also women in power. I gotta checked that out right, hey.
The ancient Greeks thought that adding oregano into the diets
of cows improved the taste of their meat. Um. They
were also big believers and oregano's medicinal value, sometimes making
(12:44):
a cream out of it and using it for aches
and sores. Marjoram was similarly highly regarded as a medicinal
or recommended for things like headaches, insomnia, and asthma. Gallendas
varieties plenty. Theo, frostis, and mithradates, to name a few,
all made mention of the healing powers of one or
both of these herbs. Aristotle claimed that originum could combat poison,
(13:08):
claiming it could save the life of a tortoise who
ate a snake. And funny story, Lauren Um. As you know,
I have a kind of a bad record with pets. Yeah, yeah, buddy,
you do well. I did have a pet turtle and
my brother had a pet snake, and we were on
vacation once and we had to leave them for one
(13:29):
reason or the other, in the same aquarium with us
on vacation. Like, we didn't leave them home, but at
the place we were at on vacation, we only had
the one aquarium. Went out to a restaurant or something,
and I was so concerned. I'm like, my brothers, snake
is gonna attack the turtle. I'm so worried about it.
When we came back, lo and behold, my turtle had
(13:51):
eaten the snake. Yep. I was shocked and proud and
also sad. I'm oh, I'm I'm sorry. Uh uh I though,
oh no, yeah, that is sad. All. Yeah, See, if
(14:14):
you would only had some regano. I love that claim,
Like that is such a specific like I love that.
Like whatever else Aristotle was up to, he was going, like,
you know, what can really help tortoises who have the
snake eating problem? Um, I'm it's you know, great great thinkers,
(14:36):
great thinkers. I'm sure, I'm sure it had something specific.
I'm sure there was a specific circumstance tied to it.
But that's maybe he had a pet turtle who had
a snake. Maybe he had a pet snake. Oh, Aristotle
and I might have more in common than I think.
(14:57):
But anyway, all right, Uh, these philosophers, thinkers, they were
the only ones who were proponents of the medicinal benefits
of a reguano. The ancient Chinese prescribed it for a
wide number of things, from jaundice to vomiting, to diarrhea
to itching. The ancient Romans often are credited with spreading
a regano to the rest of Europe and northern Africa,
(15:20):
and the ancient Greeks and Romans believed the smell of
a regano and marjorom was meant to remind people of
the beauty of aphrodite slash venus and or that she
created these things as a symbol of happiness, and also
because of this was seen us an aphrodisiac yeph clearly clearly,
of course, I mean, it's not lettuce. Gosh. One day
(15:43):
I'm going to get I have this book of jokes,
I know I've mentioned it before and it's from like
the fourteen hundreds. I'm gonna get it out and I'm
going to read the lettuce jokes about it being causing
impotence after dark episodes of Savor. Yes, where we read
we do like snap jokes from the four hundreds. It's
(16:05):
going to be a real hoot, real nie slapper, yeah yes,
oh yeah. Um. Ancient Greeks may have even used crowns
of oregano and their wedding traditions, as the ancient Romans
with Marge Room. Several legends claimed that oregano was used
in love potions and that people, usually women, would put
oregano under their pillows at night to get a visit
(16:27):
from Aphrodite, who would tell them the first name of
their future spouse. And this was a tradition at St.
Luke's day as well. I'm curious, though, like how much
of it is if they tell you the first name
is whatever, that you just started disregarding everyone else and
looking for looking just for John or whatever. Yeah, m hmm,
(16:50):
it seems it seems, it seems problematic to be honest.
But but you know it's again. Humans didn't have Netflix.
They had to make their own fun. That's true. That's true.
One legend goes that a sermon by the name of
a Marcus, an early name for the genus of oregano,
was tasked by the King of Cyprus to transport a
valuable and precious vial of perfume. But alas he dropped
(17:13):
it and promptly died of fright, falling right into the
puddle of spilled perfume, that gods took pity on him
and transformed him into the fragrant originum. I like that. Yeah,
you know, you died of fright, get turned into anner.
But makes as much sense as anything just about. The
(17:36):
ancient Greeks used oregano and burial rights, and in ancient
egypt O regano is sometimes left in tombs to accompany
the dead on their journey to the afterlife, and medicinally
and as a disinfectant, and again oregano or marjorum hard
to say, but one of those. They used it in
the Rights for God's like Osiris if we look at
(17:57):
the Bible. On the other hand, the hiss up used
to mark the doors of Jewish homes during the Final
Plague more correctly probably referred to Marjoram or oregano. Yes,
and Marjoram and oregano were also believed by the ancient
Greeks and Romans to ward off evil spirits and colts. Okay,
we're sometimes used in ambulets. No, which is spelled goblin
(18:20):
or nevil, could bypass oregano hanging over the doorway or
strewn at an entrance. See, I love thinking of this
kind of stuff, Like you're you're the old a devil
coming to really bother somebody, and you're like oregano. No,
I love it. Oh, foiled again by oregano. I love
(18:44):
so much. In thirteen seventy three Verse herbal, the Oregano
and margor Room families were called brother wart wart, being
a Germanic word to indicate a plant was medicinal. By
this point, at least oregano was grown in England. Oregano
made its way to China during the Middle Ages. It
was a very popular ingredient in Europe at this point
(19:06):
to used to flavor all kinds of things fish, studs, shellfish, eggs, meats, right, salads,
and might have been used to make teas and as
a flavoring in beer. See, this is the thing that
I was thinking about. And I don't I have had
a lot of different beers, y'all. And uh, and I
don't think I've had one with an oregano marjor room
(19:29):
stick going on. And now I'm super curious about that. Yeah,
I don't think I have either, or at least it
wasn't like widely noted on advertising or something. So another
thing to add to our list, Lauren, Yeah, Yeah, I
feel like it would go really well with something kind
of hoppy, you know. Yeah, it seems like it would
(19:50):
m listeners. Let us know if you've got any suggestions. Yeah. Absolutely.
Shakespeare mentioned marge Room and several of his works, including
King Lear, The Winter's Tale and All's Well that Ends Well,
And here's a quote from that one. Indeed, sir, she
was the sweet margin room of the salad, or rather
the herb of grace, sweet margin room of the salad,
(20:12):
a popular fifteen century European dessert with sugar and sweet
marg room flowers sounds delicious. In the sixteen fifties, English
botanist Nicholas Culpepper wrote that marjorom possessed quote warming and
comfortable and cold diseases of the head, stomach, snooze, and
other parts taken inwardly or out qualities. A bit earlier,
(20:36):
another English botanist named John Gerard recommended margin room for
all kinds of things, including for those quote given to
overmuch sighing, so that's me and quote swooning of the heart, Oh,
of the heart. Yeah. He also recommended a combo of
wine and oregano as a remedy for quote venomous stings
(20:59):
or poppy poisoning, shine and oregano. Alright, yeah, but put
anything in wine. It's it's going back to that old,
old medicinal tradition of like, well, what are you gonna
do with it? Put it in wine? I feel like, yeah,
that was a big thing for a while. Oregano and
margin were both associated with happiness in the Victorian language
(21:21):
of flowers, which I is something I didn't know about
until we started doing this show and I now find
quite fascinating. Oh yes, oh, it's it's really, it's really
beautiful and one of my favorite tropes. And uh in
both like Victorian literature and modern literature. That is making
reference to Victorian literature because it's it's it's it's a
whole weird, beautiful thing. Mm hmm. Yeah. If you're looking
(21:44):
for a rabbit hole, yeah you can. You can make
a whole sentence out of a bouquet, and it's great.
I love that. In Henry Beston wrote in Herbs and
the Earth, of all herbal fragrances, there is none, to
my mind more pleasant than that of sweet marjoram of
that plant, which is the French call mardulen a coquille,
(22:05):
and put with keepsakes and add to salads, big salad orb.
It seems while oregona was used in Mexican recipes but
more correctly lipya, it wasn't really recorded in the United
States for a long time. In facts. In the nineteen
forty two cookbook How to Cook a Wolf Great Name,
author M. FK. Fisher only mentioned it once, calling it
(22:28):
an optional but nice ingredient for minnestrona or as we
say or at least of my family minnestroni um soup.
And even then she went on to write, I know
several earnest, thoughtful women who would rather see their children
pete than prove something with the foreign name Minnestrona. Because
in this year of ninety two the United States is
(22:49):
at war with Italy. That didn't change until soldiers returning
for World War Two came back with the love of
pizza from Italy, shedding a light on what for most
people in this country had been a previously unknown ingredient.
Many times pizza let the oregano flavor shine, and this
(23:11):
association was so strong agona was nicknamed the pizza herb,
and it's still called that in some some places by
some today. The soldiers also got exposed to oregono in
a different way. One of the U. S. Army's food
suppliers was an Italian immigrant by the name of Hector Briarty,
but you might know him by his Americanized name Chef
(23:34):
BOYARTI uh my dang mind yep yep. He included regano
in his tinned spaghetti sauce. Prior to the soldier's returned
to America. Italian immigrants accounted for one fifth of New
York City's population, and they used Regano in their cooking. However,
(23:57):
Italian cooking and food largely didn't bring itch out beyond
those communities at the time. Nineteen thirty nine at New
York Harold Tribune article even described what pizza was as
if you know, people reading it wouldn't have any of
it was very specific description, yes, and there was even
a pronunciation guide on how to say it. So times
(24:18):
have changed just a just a tiny bit. Yes, it
still does just blow my mind that that was only nine,
that was less than a years ago. Yeah. And then
one of my favorite pieces of research I've ever come
across um was an article I think it was for
the pizza episode, or it might have been an apple
pie one where the author was listing all these foods
(24:41):
like in shock that people were eating them, and just
like this will never take off an America pizza, apple pie,
and it's like all the things that are quote American, yeah, yeah.
Taste for you know exploded in the United States after
World War Two. It went from something with such a
low number of imports the Department of Commerce didn't even
(25:02):
list it separately to an annual one million and a
half pounds used in the United States. By the sixties,
sales of it rose five thousand, two hundred percent in
the United States from nine to nineteen fifty six alone.
WHOA what, Yeah, that is a huge percentage number. Oh
(25:25):
wow uh. Italian food in general also went through a
post World War Two boom. This was due to many
many things, like the arrival of more immigrants, gas fired
ceramic pizza ovens, the opening of more and more Italian restaurants,
the expansion of companies that specialized in Italian food. Chef
Boyardes camp Spaghetti Sauce is one of the first televised commercials,
(25:49):
and the first direct flight from New York to Rome
was offered by pan Am in ninety eight, meaning a
wave of American tourists returning with a taste for Italian
in foods. In one the song art Oregano by the
jazz pianist Art Pepper debut Pretty Sure. Soon after that,
Frank Sinatra's That's a More A came out. Pablo Naruta's
(26:14):
poem love Sonnet thirty four opens with you are the
Daughter of the Sea, Oregano's first cousin swimmer, Your body
as pure as the water, cook your blood as quick
as the soil. Everything you do is full of flowers,
rich with the earth. A regano. I love, Pablo Aruta, Yeah,
me too. The cookbook I Hate To Cook Book by
(26:37):
Peg Bracken listed aregano as a staple ingredient, which was
a big deal because it sort of made a whole
thing the book did about sticking to two ingredients you
probably already had and your cutvered and avoiding quote exotic ingredients. Wow.
So yeah, so in just like like like twenty years
it had become a kitchen staple. That's what a rise me. Yeah. Um.
(27:02):
And then more more modern leh. As of the twenty tens,
oil of a regano became something of a pop health fat.
A lot of celebrities um instagramming and tweeting about how,
oh yes I'm getting a cold or trying to protect
myself from a cold, better use that oil of a regano.
(27:23):
Huh and uh yes, you know see above re our
slogan of medicinal ingestion of anything, um and uh somewhere
along the line. And this didn't occur to me to
start researching until we we sat down today um. But
uh but there's kind of kind of an old a
(27:43):
joke or meme or urban legend about less than ethical
uh weed dealers um selling kids a regano instead of
cannabis and uh uh you know the two. The two
plants don't look dissimilar, both have a certain herbal smell
(28:06):
to them. UM. So I suppose, upon brief inspection, you
could certainly be be fooled by some regano. Um. But
if you if you google this, um, if you google
like a regano cannabis in the same little Google search bar, um,
the results are kind of hilarious and include one story
from from Colorado, from where some teenagers knocked over a
(28:33):
cannabis boutique and uh stole some of the bottles off
of the shelves, not realizing that the bottles that are
just out for display on the shelves do not contain
actual cannabis. UM. The store owners were like, yeah, I
know that was a regano. They just made off with,
like a lot of a reguanel um make some piece
(28:53):
of kids. Yeah it's great, you'll never have to buy
a reagano again. Yeah, come on, And that was it
was probably nice o regano probably saved you like five
to seven bucks over a lifetime, depending on your regano.
You s don't oh sure, Oh yeah, I don't know.
I I do have like at least three bottles of
(29:18):
a regano and at least two of Marjoram in my kitchen,
and I'm not sure how they all got there. So
I feel like you have a lot of ingredients like that. Yeah,
I just got a mishmash of a lot of things
going on that that is truer than I think even
I know. Annie. Well, I've totally forgotten about that whole
(29:45):
reggado barajuana thing, but it was a fun reminder. Yeah,
you never know where the research will go. Our other motto,
yep yep yepis true. Well that's about what we have
to say today for a regular and Marge room m
hm um. And we do have a little bit more
(30:05):
for you, but first we've got one more quick break
for a word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank
you sponsor, Yes, thank you, And we're back with nerve.
(30:29):
Thank you. I thank you. That's how my oregulo is
growing like a weed. But it's not because I love it.
Oh yeah, I wouldn't mind weeds either. I can't grow
that much. Lauren getting better, but it's not. It's not easy.
(30:50):
It's your You're your learning, You're learning, I am. It's
a constant work in process, work in process, work in progress. Yeah,
it's true, it's true, writer wrote, I've been listening to
your show for a while and want to finally write
in about some connections I made recently. First, I want
to tell you about a pretty wild experience I had
with The Simpsons growing up. I finished elementary school in
(31:12):
the summer of two thousand seven just before the movie release,
and my dad took me to the beach to light
off fireworks and celebrate going on to middle school. To
make a long story short, one of these fireworks ended
up under me when I went to take a seat. Yes,
I sat on a fireworks, leaving me with the first
firework injury of the year in my counties. Quick shout
(31:33):
out to the ear nurse that listened to my story
with the straight face. As a result of my grievous
wounds and my being a huge Simpsons fan, my parents
took me to Seattle to one of the pop up
Quickie Mart locations, where I promptly loaded up on crustios
and buzz cola or fruit loops and diet coke. As
I soon learned, even considering my reason for getting to go,
(31:57):
visiting that shop has always been a special memory for me.
I had never had a novelty food like that from
a shop I watched, and it was such a fun experience.
Another fictional foods that could be fun is the Fallout Universe.
Novelty consumables have come out of that world as well.
One other related anecdote, my mother used to grow poppy
plants at my childhood home. One night, we had taken
(32:17):
a watch our local movie store and came home to
almost all of her plants being dug up and stolen.
What a trip from my young self hearing that someone
stole the little plants I helped plant as a drug.
The same week you did your episode where you talked
about the bagel rito another podcast, my brother, My brother
and me also referenced it as an absurd fast food item.
(32:38):
This was just a fun connection I made. I love
hearing podcasts I listened to connect in vague ways. Also,
I just want to thank you, folks for inspiring me
to plant some asparagus during quarantine. Asn't sprouted yet, but
it is a lovely addition to my container garden. Also,
I just want to note the subject line of this
email was the time I lit myself on fire for
(33:00):
a buzz cola. So bravo. Yeah goodness. I mean at
least he got something out of it. Yeah, I you know,
should everyone who sits on a firework be so lucky? Exactly? Exactly? Um?
(33:21):
And yeah, keep us up to date on how you're
a spurious Yeah indeed. Huh cool cool cool, um, Yeah,
Tina wrote. When my boyfriend at the time and now
husband and I were in college, he had most of
a jar of sauerkraut left. After making some kilbassa and perogus,
which were delicious and served his Polish heritage well, he
(33:41):
decided to see what could be done with it, so,
after some Internet searching, he found a recipe for sauer
kraut pie. I was very skeptical, but gave him my
blessing and left him to it. A couple of hours later,
he presented me with a strangely bland custardy pie. Eating
it gave the sensation of a slightly vanilla coconut which
was very disconcerting. The recipe had required rinsing the crowd,
(34:03):
so the vinegar taste was not present, but the cabbage
in a custard pie was definitely not a good thing.
He has since made many many more desserts that have
been wonderful, but that one still lives on in family lore,
and our kids are all rightly horrified by the idea.
I've got to appreciate the innovation, though, you know, right, yeah,
(34:25):
that is that is really turning turning lemons into custody
unpleasant lemonade. That's out the saying originally when people have
just forgotten it to time. But yeah, specifically about this
sauer kraut pie situation, right, yeah, yeah, we've all made
(34:47):
that dessert. I remember one time, Oh gosh, I'm so
like frugal, and I wanted to make I had all
these ingredients I just wanted to use up. And it
was my friend's birthday and I'm a terrible friend, and
so I was like, I'm going to use these things
and see what happens. And I made the like densest
cake you can imagine. It actually tasted good, but it
(35:10):
was like it's like if you had a huge tintier
cake and it somehow beened smushed into one tiny layer.
Oh huh, and I don't know how or why that happened.
I don't even know what was in there. I know
there was some banana's. Um well, I feel like I'm
isolating your problem. It's just throwing ingredients. And yeah, that
(35:36):
will be fun. Surely it will turn out. And my
friends just fine their birthday. There's a lot of pictures
of it. And yeah, it also lives on in infamy.
I've had plenty of dessert fails, I think. I think
(35:57):
probably at this point, the longest running and funny one
is is just the fact that I don't think my
freezer runs cold enough to freeze a an ice cream
machine bowl. And um, so I have tried for like
multiple holidays on end to create an ice cream for
dessert for family holidays, and uh and it just hasn't
(36:22):
ever worked. It's just never I've been like, well, I
have this soup. Um, I have this soup. I've I've
done it. I've done it like granita style a few times,
where you just like like lay it in a really
thin layer in a sheet pan and kind of like
like fork it until it ice is up. Um, but
(36:42):
but yeah, that's yeah, uh, it's it's to the point
that my friend's mother bought me a new ice cream
machine and I'm like, I don't think this is the issue.
I I have faith in you, Lauren. Also, I need
you to send a picture of it for me because
(37:04):
I am working on my silly Star Wars play and
as anyone would know, there's an ice cream man ice
cream machine man in Empire strikes back. So I'm looking
for a prop that will fit. Got you, ye, will do,
will do. It's very important, very very important. Um. Thanks
(37:29):
to both of those listeners for writing in. If you
have any dessert disasters you want to share, you would
love to hear them. Our email is hello at savor
pod dot com. We're also on social media. You can
find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at saver pod,
and we do hope to hear from you. Savor is
production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my
(37:50):
Heart Radio, you can visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our superproducers Dylan Fagin and Andrew Howard.
Black Lives Better and we hope that lots more good
things are coming your way. H
Hello, I'm welcome to save our production of I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren vocal Baum. And today
we're talking about a Regano and Marjoram. Yes, and it
is a fun day in our home studios because here
in Atlanta there's a thunderstorm, a pretty a pretty epic one. Yes. Yes,
so ambiance. Yes, this is the very most goth discussion
(00:31):
of Regano and marge Room that anyone will ever have. Yes,
it's exactly what your listeners needed in your life. I
am sure positive. So this is a topic that's been
on my mind because I've been getting a regane as
a part of my c s a um and it
(00:54):
is one of the few things that I am successfully growing.
I tried to throw a lot of things so far
only was taken a Regano and mins um. So yeah,
and I use some last night. Have you been like
rooting them in water? Yes? Uh yeah, yeah yeah, and
they I've just been using like cuttings and stuff, and I, um,
(01:16):
it grows pretty fast. I gotta say, I got a
lot of it. Um and I used some last night
for the first time when I was cooking. It smelled
so good. Oh yeah, yeah, huzzah, yeah, I am. I
use I used dried um, oregano and marge room in
cooking all the time, any time that I'm making anything
like even vaguely mediterranean. E uh, those things go in there. Um.
(01:41):
But I don't think i've ever I'm trying to think
I've ever ever ever had it fresh, aside from like
maybe in like a like a little like poultry bundle
of of herbs or something. But I'm not sure. It's
delicious um smell alone excellent, um love how fuzzy it is?
(02:01):
Oh yeah, yeah, we're going to talk about that. Yes. Well.
On the other hand, though, before we did this research,
I could not have told you what marjor room was.
I had to look up how to pronounce it. And
when you suggested we should do oregano and margor room,
I was like, huh okay, because I had no idea
what it was. I thought. I was like, are they related?
(02:24):
I don't know. But this is a big learning one
for me. Fun who's that? Yeah? Learning? Learning is great.
We're we're all in the business of learning. We are,
we're big proponents of it. But alright, I guess that
brings us to our question, a regano in marge room.
(02:46):
What are they? Good question? Um? Okay, all right, Well, Uh,
Regano and marjor rom are are herbs with a small,
soft green leaves that have a similar but kind of
varyingly peppery, citrusy, savory, woody, and uh and bitter flavors.
(03:07):
And they come from a number of different species within uh,
within a few genuses, but kind of mostly um originum.
And there's some etymology madness involved in this one. Oh yes,
So the name oregano means joy of the mountain, although
the word itself might have originally come from somewhere else. Meanwhile,
(03:31):
marjoram probably derived from Sanskrit, but it sounded close to
the word for greater in Latin, which led to the
French word margerin, which was picked up and spelled in
a variety of different ways in English until the current
English spelling was settled on sometime in the seventeen hundreds. Confusingly,
a regano means marjoram and Spanish, and in parts of
(03:52):
Europe oregano goes by wild marjoram, and margor room goes
by sweet marjoram and quick clarification or gonnam used roy
with the mountain in Greek. Okay, yes, yes, so a
lot going on there right right? Uh so okay, So
so Marjoram is just one species originum majarana um, and
(04:15):
a regano is a common term for a whole bunch
of different species. Um. It's really a word for like
a flavor profile more than a single plant. Um that
that originalm that the genus is part of the lamiassi
a family, the mint family, and this genus contains some species,
and all of them, usually except for the one that
(04:36):
is Marjoram, are called oregano um. Plus, there are whole
other genuses Limpya and Hedioma and um lantana, some of
which are native to whole other parts of the world,
that get colloquially lumped in with oregano um. Some of
them aren't even in the same botanical family. I read
(04:57):
one medical paper that said that there are at least
sixty one species and seventeen genuses in six different families
that are called a regano simple not using at all, Nope,
zero percent. So this is all to say that if
you have a jar of dried o regano in your kitchen.
(05:18):
The specific plant that is in it could vary. Um.
Though that said, um, there are a few species that
are most commonly used in cooking. UM common oregano or
um originem bulgary has a bright flavor. Mexican oregano or
Lippia Gravio lens has like a more peppery flavor. Spanish
and Greek oreganos u of vivans and oh hair Clete's
(05:41):
um are a little bit milder. Marjoram meanwhile, is a
little bit warmer and a little bit less bitter. Sometimes again,
it can it can vary. Wow, what's going on here? Yep, yep, yep,
yep and uh. And as we said, these can be
used fresh or dried. Yes, yes, And they're used in
(06:02):
all kinds of cuisines and in all kinds of waves.
The flowers are also edible. The European versions are particularly
popular in cuisines from the border of the Mediterranean see
because that's where they're pretty much originally from. Um they
are known mostly in America as like an Italian cuisine
flavor mm hmm yes, uh and sweet margorroom is often
(06:28):
one of the ingredients in absent here you go, our
old friend abs. Wow. What about nutrition? Okay, As with
many herbs, you're probably not eating enough of this stuff
to have like a macro nutrient impact on your diet um.
But but these herbs can can provide a big bang
(06:49):
of flavor for a small cloric buck. So they're really
great to incorporate into your cooking and your diet um.
And also okay, uh, these these herbs, like pretty much
any herb, that that if you run your hand just
gently through um, through bush of it, or or across
a branch of it, and you come away with the
(07:09):
scent of that herb on your hand. Um, that means
that this herb evolved to produce some oils that keep
pests away as so, and and and specifically the reason
that some of them are are fuzzy on the leaves
are those little fuzzy hairs help keep the oils on
the surface. Uh and and therefore you know, keep keep
(07:30):
it right there so that if an insect comes along,
it goes, oh eat it, go, get get it off me,
get away, never mind, not gonna eat this one. Uman,
While I'm like, yes again, humans decided we liked that,
So it's really effective. Against like microbes and funguses and
insects and some animals, but humans are like oh delicious
(07:51):
poison yea um, not that it acts is poison in us.
It can actually be helpful medicinally and a regular and
marjoram have been used in folk medicine for pretty much ever,
for things from asthma to indigestion, and are currently being
studied for all kinds of helpful properties antioxidant, antibacterial, antimycotic,
(08:11):
anti inflammatory, anti diabetic. UM. Extracted oils are already being
used in livestock feed to help prevent gut infections and
thus prevent the use of antibiotics. And from some of
the studies I read, it seems that they both stimulate
um those animals guts to uh produce this like protective
gut mucus UM. But then further can can weaken bacteria
(08:34):
cell walls, leading to eventual cell death. UM. And this
is especially cool because of the overuse of antibiotics in
in well everything honestly, but uh but but so hopefully
this can be with with with more research, Uh, this
can be turned into something that can do a lot
(08:55):
of good in the world. UM. As with anything the
saver motto. Uh, you know, bodies are complicated. More research
needs to be done before incorporating any medicinal dose of
anything into your diet. You should definitely consult a doctor.
Um be be be be wary of snake oil um
(09:16):
always Yeah, yeah, I like, I just want to note
here listeners as Laurence said that there was a flash
of lightning behind her and then a roll of thunder.
And I used to have a history professor who would like,
whenever that would happen, he would say, Hollywood couldn't do
it better. I just got reminded of that, very dramatic.
(09:38):
Oh that's great. I was so into thinking about microbes
that I wasn't even paying attention. I'm I'm into it though.
It was awesome, very dramatic. Indeed, we do have a
couple of numbers for you. Americans import fourty million pounds
of a regano a year, making it our top in
(10:00):
court with when it comes to herbs like this, both
quantity wise and value wise. Okay, we like, we like
some oregano here. We do number one, cause we'll get
into that. It is we do. We do eat a
lot of pizza, and it is like a a pizza
e herb. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Oh, and I did
want to note Reagano is the name of a computer
(10:20):
programming language. There you go, all right, cool yeah, cool
cool cool? Uh. And Oregano and marge room have quite
the interesting history. Hollywood couldn't do it better. Yes, and
we will get into that as soon as we get
back from a quick break for a word from our sponsor,
(10:50):
and we're back, Thank you sponsored, Yes, thank you. So
keeping the history of oregano and marge room separate is
in writably difficult because the names were often used interchangeably
in historical records, and some other herbs got mixed up
in there too, so shrug emoji. Historians think that historically
(11:15):
marge room was more widely used, except in the Mediterranean,
where Oregano was preferred, so that's sort of the where
they work from. But yeah, um, and and this interchangeability
uh of of names and the records is why I
was just like, oh, nope, we can't do one or
the other of those. Let's just yea, let's just roll
(11:38):
with the whole mess. Yeah, roll with the whole mess
another savor motto. So both most likely originated in the
Mediterranean and perhaps specifically in Greece. Some sources indicate that
the ancient Egyptians were cultivating oregano over three thousand years ago.
Some of the first records date back to sometime between
(11:59):
seen hundred to twelve b C. There are these images
recorded by the Hittites and what is now modern day Syria.
Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates is believed to be the first
to use originum in written records, so four hundred sixty
seventy ish in the first century b C. E. Marjor
Room was mentioned in the poem Epithalamium by catalysts Catillus
(12:23):
Catullus Aristophaney's Women in Power from three b C references
Marjorom also women in power. I gotta checked that out right, hey.
The ancient Greeks thought that adding oregano into the diets
of cows improved the taste of their meat. Um. They
were also big believers and oregano's medicinal value, sometimes making
(12:44):
a cream out of it and using it for aches
and sores. Marjoram was similarly highly regarded as a medicinal
or recommended for things like headaches, insomnia, and asthma. Gallendas
varieties plenty. Theo, frostis, and mithradates, to name a few,
all made mention of the healing powers of one or
both of these herbs. Aristotle claimed that originum could combat poison,
(13:08):
claiming it could save the life of a tortoise who
ate a snake. And funny story, Lauren Um. As you know,
I have a kind of a bad record with pets. Yeah, yeah, buddy,
you do well. I did have a pet turtle and
my brother had a pet snake, and we were on
vacation once and we had to leave them for one
(13:29):
reason or the other, in the same aquarium with us
on vacation. Like, we didn't leave them home, but at
the place we were at on vacation, we only had
the one aquarium. Went out to a restaurant or something,
and I was so concerned. I'm like, my brothers, snake
is gonna attack the turtle. I'm so worried about it.
When we came back, lo and behold, my turtle had
(13:51):
eaten the snake. Yep. I was shocked and proud and
also sad. I'm oh, I'm I'm sorry. Uh uh I though,
oh no, yeah, that is sad. All. Yeah, See, if
(14:14):
you would only had some regano. I love that claim,
Like that is such a specific like I love that.
Like whatever else Aristotle was up to, he was going, like,
you know, what can really help tortoises who have the
snake eating problem? Um, I'm it's you know, great great thinkers,
(14:36):
great thinkers. I'm sure, I'm sure it had something specific.
I'm sure there was a specific circumstance tied to it.
But that's maybe he had a pet turtle who had
a snake. Maybe he had a pet snake. Oh, Aristotle
and I might have more in common than I think.
(14:57):
But anyway, all right, Uh, these philosophers, thinkers, they were
the only ones who were proponents of the medicinal benefits
of a reguano. The ancient Chinese prescribed it for a
wide number of things, from jaundice to vomiting, to diarrhea
to itching. The ancient Romans often are credited with spreading
a regano to the rest of Europe and northern Africa,
(15:20):
and the ancient Greeks and Romans believed the smell of
a regano and marjorom was meant to remind people of
the beauty of aphrodite slash venus and or that she
created these things as a symbol of happiness, and also
because of this was seen us an aphrodisiac yeph clearly clearly,
of course, I mean, it's not lettuce. Gosh. One day
(15:43):
I'm going to get I have this book of jokes,
I know I've mentioned it before and it's from like
the fourteen hundreds. I'm gonna get it out and I'm
going to read the lettuce jokes about it being causing
impotence after dark episodes of Savor. Yes, where we read
we do like snap jokes from the four hundreds. It's
(16:05):
going to be a real hoot, real nie slapper, yeah yes,
oh yeah. Um. Ancient Greeks may have even used crowns
of oregano and their wedding traditions, as the ancient Romans
with Marge Room. Several legends claimed that oregano was used
in love potions and that people, usually women, would put
oregano under their pillows at night to get a visit
(16:27):
from Aphrodite, who would tell them the first name of
their future spouse. And this was a tradition at St.
Luke's day as well. I'm curious, though, like how much
of it is if they tell you the first name
is whatever, that you just started disregarding everyone else and
looking for looking just for John or whatever. Yeah, m hmm,
(16:50):
it seems it seems, it seems problematic to be honest.
But but you know it's again. Humans didn't have Netflix.
They had to make their own fun. That's true. That's true.
One legend goes that a sermon by the name of
a Marcus, an early name for the genus of oregano,
was tasked by the King of Cyprus to transport a
valuable and precious vial of perfume. But alas he dropped
(17:13):
it and promptly died of fright, falling right into the
puddle of spilled perfume, that gods took pity on him
and transformed him into the fragrant originum. I like that. Yeah,
you know, you died of fright, get turned into anner.
But makes as much sense as anything just about. The
(17:36):
ancient Greeks used oregano and burial rights, and in ancient
egypt O regano is sometimes left in tombs to accompany
the dead on their journey to the afterlife, and medicinally
and as a disinfectant, and again oregano or marjorum hard
to say, but one of those. They used it in
the Rights for God's like Osiris if we look at
(17:57):
the Bible. On the other hand, the hiss up used
to mark the doors of Jewish homes during the Final
Plague more correctly probably referred to Marjoram or oregano. Yes,
and Marjoram and oregano were also believed by the ancient
Greeks and Romans to ward off evil spirits and colts. Okay,
we're sometimes used in ambulets. No, which is spelled goblin
(18:20):
or nevil, could bypass oregano hanging over the doorway or
strewn at an entrance. See, I love thinking of this
kind of stuff, Like you're you're the old a devil
coming to really bother somebody, and you're like oregano. No,
I love it. Oh, foiled again by oregano. I love
(18:44):
so much. In thirteen seventy three Verse herbal, the Oregano
and margor Room families were called brother wart wart, being
a Germanic word to indicate a plant was medicinal. By
this point, at least oregano was grown in England. Oregano
made its way to China during the Middle Ages. It
was a very popular ingredient in Europe at this point
(19:06):
to used to flavor all kinds of things fish, studs, shellfish, eggs, meats, right, salads,
and might have been used to make teas and as
a flavoring in beer. See, this is the thing that
I was thinking about. And I don't I have had
a lot of different beers, y'all. And uh, and I
don't think I've had one with an oregano marjor room
(19:29):
stick going on. And now I'm super curious about that. Yeah,
I don't think I have either, or at least it
wasn't like widely noted on advertising or something. So another
thing to add to our list, Lauren, Yeah, Yeah, I
feel like it would go really well with something kind
of hoppy, you know. Yeah, it seems like it would
(19:50):
m listeners. Let us know if you've got any suggestions. Yeah. Absolutely.
Shakespeare mentioned marge Room and several of his works, including
King Lear, The Winter's Tale and All's Well that Ends Well,
And here's a quote from that one. Indeed, sir, she
was the sweet margin room of the salad, or rather
the herb of grace, sweet margin room of the salad,
(20:12):
a popular fifteen century European dessert with sugar and sweet
marg room flowers sounds delicious. In the sixteen fifties, English
botanist Nicholas Culpepper wrote that marjorom possessed quote warming and
comfortable and cold diseases of the head, stomach, snooze, and
other parts taken inwardly or out qualities. A bit earlier,
(20:36):
another English botanist named John Gerard recommended margin room for
all kinds of things, including for those quote given to
overmuch sighing, so that's me and quote swooning of the heart, Oh,
of the heart. Yeah. He also recommended a combo of
wine and oregano as a remedy for quote venomous stings
(20:59):
or poppy poisoning, shine and oregano. Alright, yeah, but put
anything in wine. It's it's going back to that old,
old medicinal tradition of like, well, what are you gonna
do with it? Put it in wine? I feel like, yeah,
that was a big thing for a while. Oregano and
margin were both associated with happiness in the Victorian language
(21:21):
of flowers, which I is something I didn't know about
until we started doing this show and I now find
quite fascinating. Oh yes, oh, it's it's really, it's really
beautiful and one of my favorite tropes. And uh in
both like Victorian literature and modern literature. That is making
reference to Victorian literature because it's it's it's it's a
whole weird, beautiful thing. Mm hmm. Yeah. If you're looking
(21:44):
for a rabbit hole, yeah you can. You can make
a whole sentence out of a bouquet, and it's great.
I love that. In Henry Beston wrote in Herbs and
the Earth, of all herbal fragrances, there is none, to
my mind more pleasant than that of sweet marjoram of
that plant, which is the French call mardulen a coquille,
(22:05):
and put with keepsakes and add to salads, big salad orb.
It seems while oregona was used in Mexican recipes but
more correctly lipya, it wasn't really recorded in the United
States for a long time. In facts. In the nineteen
forty two cookbook How to Cook a Wolf Great Name,
author M. FK. Fisher only mentioned it once, calling it
(22:28):
an optional but nice ingredient for minnestrona or as we
say or at least of my family minnestroni um soup.
And even then she went on to write, I know
several earnest, thoughtful women who would rather see their children
pete than prove something with the foreign name Minnestrona. Because
in this year of ninety two the United States is
(22:49):
at war with Italy. That didn't change until soldiers returning
for World War Two came back with the love of
pizza from Italy, shedding a light on what for most
people in this country had been a previously unknown ingredient.
Many times pizza let the oregano flavor shine, and this
(23:11):
association was so strong agona was nicknamed the pizza herb,
and it's still called that in some some places by
some today. The soldiers also got exposed to oregono in
a different way. One of the U. S. Army's food
suppliers was an Italian immigrant by the name of Hector Briarty,
but you might know him by his Americanized name Chef
(23:34):
BOYARTI uh my dang mind yep yep. He included regano
in his tinned spaghetti sauce. Prior to the soldier's returned
to America. Italian immigrants accounted for one fifth of New
York City's population, and they used Regano in their cooking. However,
(23:57):
Italian cooking and food largely didn't bring itch out beyond
those communities at the time. Nineteen thirty nine at New
York Harold Tribune article even described what pizza was as
if you know, people reading it wouldn't have any of
it was very specific description, yes, and there was even
a pronunciation guide on how to say it. So times
(24:18):
have changed just a just a tiny bit. Yes, it
still does just blow my mind that that was only nine,
that was less than a years ago. Yeah. And then
one of my favorite pieces of research I've ever come
across um was an article I think it was for
the pizza episode, or it might have been an apple
pie one where the author was listing all these foods
(24:41):
like in shock that people were eating them, and just
like this will never take off an America pizza, apple pie,
and it's like all the things that are quote American, yeah, yeah.
Taste for you know exploded in the United States after
World War Two. It went from something with such a
low number of imports the Department of Commerce didn't even
(25:02):
list it separately to an annual one million and a
half pounds used in the United States. By the sixties,
sales of it rose five thousand, two hundred percent in
the United States from nine to nineteen fifty six alone.
WHOA what, Yeah, that is a huge percentage number. Oh
(25:25):
wow uh. Italian food in general also went through a
post World War Two boom. This was due to many
many things, like the arrival of more immigrants, gas fired
ceramic pizza ovens, the opening of more and more Italian restaurants,
the expansion of companies that specialized in Italian food. Chef
Boyardes camp Spaghetti Sauce is one of the first televised commercials,
(25:49):
and the first direct flight from New York to Rome
was offered by pan Am in ninety eight, meaning a
wave of American tourists returning with a taste for Italian
in foods. In one the song art Oregano by the
jazz pianist Art Pepper debut Pretty Sure. Soon after that,
Frank Sinatra's That's a More A came out. Pablo Naruta's
(26:14):
poem love Sonnet thirty four opens with you are the
Daughter of the Sea, Oregano's first cousin swimmer, Your body
as pure as the water, cook your blood as quick
as the soil. Everything you do is full of flowers,
rich with the earth. A regano. I love, Pablo Aruta, Yeah,
me too. The cookbook I Hate To Cook Book by
(26:37):
Peg Bracken listed aregano as a staple ingredient, which was
a big deal because it sort of made a whole
thing the book did about sticking to two ingredients you
probably already had and your cutvered and avoiding quote exotic ingredients. Wow.
So yeah, so in just like like like twenty years
it had become a kitchen staple. That's what a rise me. Yeah. Um.
(27:02):
And then more more modern leh. As of the twenty tens,
oil of a regano became something of a pop health fat.
A lot of celebrities um instagramming and tweeting about how,
oh yes I'm getting a cold or trying to protect
myself from a cold, better use that oil of a regano.
(27:23):
Huh and uh yes, you know see above re our
slogan of medicinal ingestion of anything, um and uh somewhere
along the line. And this didn't occur to me to
start researching until we we sat down today um. But
uh but there's kind of kind of an old a
(27:43):
joke or meme or urban legend about less than ethical
uh weed dealers um selling kids a regano instead of
cannabis and uh uh you know the two. The two
plants don't look dissimilar, both have a certain herbal smell
(28:06):
to them. UM. So I suppose, upon brief inspection, you
could certainly be be fooled by some regano. Um. But
if you if you google this, um, if you google
like a regano cannabis in the same little Google search bar, um,
the results are kind of hilarious and include one story
from from Colorado, from where some teenagers knocked over a
(28:33):
cannabis boutique and uh stole some of the bottles off
of the shelves, not realizing that the bottles that are
just out for display on the shelves do not contain
actual cannabis. UM. The store owners were like, yeah, I
know that was a regano. They just made off with,
like a lot of a reguanel um make some piece
(28:53):
of kids. Yeah it's great, you'll never have to buy
a reagano again. Yeah, come on, And that was it
was probably nice o regano probably saved you like five
to seven bucks over a lifetime, depending on your regano.
You s don't oh sure, Oh yeah, I don't know.
I I do have like at least three bottles of
(29:18):
a regano and at least two of Marjoram in my kitchen,
and I'm not sure how they all got there. So
I feel like you have a lot of ingredients like that. Yeah,
I just got a mishmash of a lot of things
going on that that is truer than I think even
I know. Annie. Well, I've totally forgotten about that whole
(29:45):
reggado barajuana thing, but it was a fun reminder. Yeah,
you never know where the research will go. Our other motto,
yep yep yepis true. Well that's about what we have
to say today for a regular and Marge room m
hm um. And we do have a little bit more
(30:05):
for you, but first we've got one more quick break
for a word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank
you sponsor, Yes, thank you, And we're back with nerve.
(30:29):
Thank you. I thank you. That's how my oregulo is
growing like a weed. But it's not because I love it.
Oh yeah, I wouldn't mind weeds either. I can't grow
that much. Lauren getting better, but it's not. It's not easy.
(30:50):
It's your You're your learning, You're learning, I am. It's
a constant work in process, work in process, work in progress. Yeah,
it's true, it's true, writer wrote, I've been listening to
your show for a while and want to finally write
in about some connections I made recently. First, I want
to tell you about a pretty wild experience I had
with The Simpsons growing up. I finished elementary school in
(31:12):
the summer of two thousand seven just before the movie release,
and my dad took me to the beach to light
off fireworks and celebrate going on to middle school. To
make a long story short, one of these fireworks ended
up under me when I went to take a seat. Yes,
I sat on a fireworks, leaving me with the first
firework injury of the year in my counties. Quick shout
(31:33):
out to the ear nurse that listened to my story
with the straight face. As a result of my grievous
wounds and my being a huge Simpsons fan, my parents
took me to Seattle to one of the pop up
Quickie Mart locations, where I promptly loaded up on crustios
and buzz cola or fruit loops and diet coke. As
I soon learned, even considering my reason for getting to go,
(31:57):
visiting that shop has always been a special memory for me.
I had never had a novelty food like that from
a shop I watched, and it was such a fun experience.
Another fictional foods that could be fun is the Fallout Universe.
Novelty consumables have come out of that world as well.
One other related anecdote, my mother used to grow poppy
plants at my childhood home. One night, we had taken
(32:17):
a watch our local movie store and came home to
almost all of her plants being dug up and stolen.
What a trip from my young self hearing that someone
stole the little plants I helped plant as a drug.
The same week you did your episode where you talked
about the bagel rito another podcast, my brother, My brother
and me also referenced it as an absurd fast food item.
(32:38):
This was just a fun connection I made. I love
hearing podcasts I listened to connect in vague ways. Also,
I just want to thank you, folks for inspiring me
to plant some asparagus during quarantine. Asn't sprouted yet, but
it is a lovely addition to my container garden. Also,
I just want to note the subject line of this
email was the time I lit myself on fire for
(33:00):
a buzz cola. So bravo. Yeah goodness. I mean at
least he got something out of it. Yeah, I you know,
should everyone who sits on a firework be so lucky? Exactly? Exactly? Um?
(33:21):
And yeah, keep us up to date on how you're
a spurious Yeah indeed. Huh cool cool cool, um, Yeah,
Tina wrote. When my boyfriend at the time and now
husband and I were in college, he had most of
a jar of sauerkraut left. After making some kilbassa and perogus,
which were delicious and served his Polish heritage well, he
(33:41):
decided to see what could be done with it, so,
after some Internet searching, he found a recipe for sauer
kraut pie. I was very skeptical, but gave him my
blessing and left him to it. A couple of hours later,
he presented me with a strangely bland custardy pie. Eating
it gave the sensation of a slightly vanilla coconut which
was very disconcerting. The recipe had required rinsing the crowd,
(34:03):
so the vinegar taste was not present, but the cabbage
in a custard pie was definitely not a good thing.
He has since made many many more desserts that have
been wonderful, but that one still lives on in family lore,
and our kids are all rightly horrified by the idea.
I've got to appreciate the innovation, though, you know, right, yeah,
(34:25):
that is that is really turning turning lemons into custody
unpleasant lemonade. That's out the saying originally when people have
just forgotten it to time. But yeah, specifically about this
sauer kraut pie situation, right, yeah, yeah, we've all made
(34:47):
that dessert. I remember one time, Oh gosh, I'm so
like frugal, and I wanted to make I had all
these ingredients I just wanted to use up. And it
was my friend's birthday and I'm a terrible friend, and
so I was like, I'm going to use these things
and see what happens. And I made the like densest
cake you can imagine. It actually tasted good, but it
(35:10):
was like it's like if you had a huge tintier
cake and it somehow beened smushed into one tiny layer.
Oh huh, and I don't know how or why that happened.
I don't even know what was in there. I know
there was some banana's. Um well, I feel like I'm
isolating your problem. It's just throwing ingredients. And yeah, that
(35:36):
will be fun. Surely it will turn out. And my
friends just fine their birthday. There's a lot of pictures
of it. And yeah, it also lives on in infamy.
I've had plenty of dessert fails, I think. I think
(35:57):
probably at this point, the longest running and funny one
is is just the fact that I don't think my
freezer runs cold enough to freeze a an ice cream
machine bowl. And um, so I have tried for like
multiple holidays on end to create an ice cream for
dessert for family holidays, and uh and it just hasn't
(36:22):
ever worked. It's just never I've been like, well, I
have this soup. Um, I have this soup. I've I've
done it. I've done it like granita style a few times,
where you just like like lay it in a really
thin layer in a sheet pan and kind of like
like fork it until it ice is up. Um, but
(36:42):
but yeah, that's yeah, uh, it's it's to the point
that my friend's mother bought me a new ice cream
machine and I'm like, I don't think this is the issue.
I I have faith in you, Lauren. Also, I need
you to send a picture of it for me because
(37:04):
I am working on my silly Star Wars play and
as anyone would know, there's an ice cream man ice
cream machine man in Empire strikes back. So I'm looking
for a prop that will fit. Got you, ye, will do,
will do. It's very important, very very important. Um. Thanks
(37:29):
to both of those listeners for writing in. If you
have any dessert disasters you want to share, you would
love to hear them. Our email is hello at savor
pod dot com. We're also on social media. You can
find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at saver pod,
and we do hope to hear from you. Savor is
production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my
(37:50):
Heart Radio, you can visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our superproducers Dylan Fagin and Andrew Howard.
Black Lives Better and we hope that lots more good
things are coming your way. H
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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