Marjoram

Group: Grass and Green Components

Common name: Marjoram or Sweet marjoram 

Botanical name: Marjorana hortensis, Origanum Marjorana 

Plant Family: Lamiaceae 

Genus: Origanum 

Species: genus Origanum consists of over 44 species

Best known as a culinary herb and an essential ingredient in French, Middle Eastern and prominently in Mediterranean cuisine, Marjoram isn't an unfamiliar herb to food lovers and in kitchen gardens. It is the world of fragrances where perfumers, as composers, to blend their fragrances work with numbers of materials and there marjoram, which is akin to oregano, makes its way into perfume ingredients.

It is a perennial herbaceous plant, grown often as an annual because it does not survive well in wet and cold winters. It grows to an upright, compact bush about 20-40 cm in height, with a woody main stem and many softer branches. Leaves are oblong-ovate, soft, matte green with a sweet, spicy, pleasant smell. Flowers are small, whitish or purplish, arranged in terminal clusters. Seeds are minute, oval and dark brown. Crop is usually grown vegetatively through cuttings and can also be grown by seeds.

Oil of marjoram is mainly used in flavouring food and is much in demand in food processing industries for flavouring canned food. To a small extant, it is used in perfumes, lotions and soaps. Medicinally, the oil is used as an external application for sprains, bruises, stiff and paralytic limbs and toothache. In aromatherapy the oil has warming, soothing and fortifying effects. Extraction of oil is done by steam distillation, oil content in fresh leaves ranges from 0.3-0.5% and dry plant gives upto 1%. Essential oil obtained from leaves has antimicrobial and nematicidal activity.

As of its uses, it makes the study of things around us even more interesting when we come to know of their uses linked with old ages. The same goes with marjoram, the ancient egyptians used it as an healing herb to disinfect, preserve and heal wounds. Its woody, balsamic scent admired by the pharaohs who used it for their perfumes. To the Greeks it was known as a symbol of happiness and was also placed on tombs to give peace to departed spirits and believed that if marjoram grew on a grave, it meant the occupant had found heaven.

And talking of the uses of marjoram today, it is mostly used as a condiment for seasoning food and the part of plant we are most familier with are leaves which are used both as dried and fresh. Fresh leaves are employed as garnish and incorporated in salads and vinegar. The use of dried leaves is best employed in foods like cheese, tomato, bean or egg dishes. Alongside leaves, even dried flowering tops are very useful for sachets and potpourri whereas, the aromatic seeds find their use in confectionary.

Here's an easy salad recipe my friend tried from a food website and I am sure our readers would like to try it too.

TOMATO CORN SALAD WITH MARJORAM

MARJORAM in FRAGRANCES

Since we have most smelled it in foods such as, marjoram flavored cheese, chicken rubbed with garlic and marjoram, salads, breads and so much that it can make a long list. However, when talking fragrances, we might not be able single out many fragrances in which marjoram makes its presence felt in a bit prominent way. But this would be an understatement, and being said that, I come across:

Here's perfumer Andy Tauer's blogpost in which he shares his experience of using it.
 

Perfumes and Colognes With Marjoram