Name: Savory (Satureja montana)
Origin: Eastern part of the Mediterranean basin
Description: A perennial plant that grows up to 30-40 cm in height. The upperside of its hard, narrow and serrated leaves is dark-green, while the underside is silvery. Savory has a clean, piney fragrance and peppery, pungent flavor. It has small white, pink or purple flowers. Blooms from July to October.
Culinary use: Use its fresh or dried leaves to flavour bean and other legume dishes (reduces the intestinal gas or bloating they may produce), as well as for seasoning potato and other one-course dishes, meals, game, sausages and sauces. Due to its strong taste, use it only in small quantity. Blooming is the best time to pick leaves. Dry the stems tied in bunches and preserve the leaves ground to a fine powder.
Medicinal use: Savory is an appetizer; it helps with stomach and intestinal ailments, and has an antibacterial effect.
Cultivating and harvesting: Growth is most vigorous in sandy, calciferous and dry soil. Due to its biological properties, protects bush bean planted close to it from aphids. Since the leaves are generally small, use the entire shoot either in whole or chopped up.