Using Fresh Thyme in Cooking Flavorful Recipes

Introduction

One important component of flavorful cooking is using the freshest ingredients possible. This includes using fresh herbs and spices, whenever possible. Learn how using fresh thyme in cooking not only can add flavor, but can nutritional benefits, as well.

About Fresh Thyme

Thyme is an herb from the mint family, commonly found in Mediterranean foods and is of Mediterranean origin. Aside from numerous Mediterranean dishes of all kinds, it also pairs well with poultry, beef, pork, lamb, venison, fish, soups, vegetable stock, vinaigrettes and potatoes. Fresh thyme is commonly used in a French bouquet garni with other fresh herbs such as bay leaves and parsley.

Nutritionally, fresh thyme is rich in vitamin K, iron and manganese. Other nutrients found in thyme include vitamin A, niacin, calcium and potassium.

Thyme is believed to aid in fat digestion and was used by early American colonists in preserving food and as a medicine.

Substituting Fresh Thyme for Dried in Recipes

In many instances, recipes that call for thyme may specify dried or fresh, but either can be used. To use fresh thyme instead of dried remember that dried thyme has a much stronger flavor, so more fresh thyme will be required to replace the dried. The basic equivalent is one whole fresh thyme sprig for each ½ teaspoon of dried thyme.

How to Use Fresh Thyme

To use fresh thyme in cooking, gently wash the stems and leaves. Pat dry. Carefully remove the leaves from the stem, chopping or mincing as needed. It should be noted that some recipes may call for an entire stem or sprig to be used, such as with bouquet garni.

If more than one whole sprig is to be used at once, to make removal simple the sprigs can be tied together with butcher’s twine or the sprigs can be placed in cheesecloth that is tied closed.

Fresh thyme is not usually added to cooking until closer to the end of the cooking time for the dish because of its delicate flavor.

Fresh Thyme Storage

Fresh thyme may be stored in the refrigerator or in the freezer. To store in the refrigerator, a piece of paper towel can be gently wrapped around the sprigs, and then the entire thing can be placed inside a plastic baggie that is closed. The thyme should be used within about a week. It can be stored in a vegetable crisper drawer or on a refrigerator shelf.

For freezer storage, the sprigs can simply be placed in a freezer-safe baggie or other container and popped into the freezer. The leaves can be removed from the sprigs frozen and used immediately.

Fresh Thyme Recipes

Certain recipes just are not the same without the use of fresh thyme versus dried. A few examples of such recipes are:

Fresh Bouquet Garni. A highly-rated recipe for fresh bouquet garni may be found on Food.com (formerly Recipezaar). This version includes fresh thyme, a bay leaf, fresh parsley and fresh marjoram. The prep time is approximately three minutes.

Roasted Zucchini with Fresh Thyme. Robin Miller contributed a recipe to Food Network for roasted zucchini with fresh thyme that showcases how well fresh thyme blends with other great flavors to create a delicious dish.

Thyme Lemonade. Renowned for all things home and garden, Martha Stewart has created a recipe using fresh thyme that updates an old recipe favorite. Her thyme lemonade is sure to refresh and surprise guests.

References

Thyme. World’s Healthiest Foods. https://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=77

Kitchen Dictionary: Thyme. Food.com (formerly Recipezaar). https://www.food.com/library/thyme-348

Herb of the Month – Thyme. The Cheese Factory Restaurant. https://www.cookingvegetarian.com/herbs/thyme.htm