Sage

Salvia fruticosa, S. officinalis

herb

Velvety grey-green leaves of a Mediterranean sub-shrub of the thyme family, with a strong, slightly camphor taste; with butter, poultry and pasta. It provides rosmarinic acid.

Origin

Mediterranean basin

Season (United States)

all year round · grows in your region

Preparation

A few leaves are enough: fresh, they are fried in butter or cooked with the dish. In cooking, no concern; as a tea, not every day for weeks, nor during pregnancy or breastfeeding: its thujone is toxic to the nerves in large doses.

Molecules

Rosmarinic acid

Did you know?

Its Latin name, salvia, comes from salvare, “to save, to heal”: “who has sage in the garden needs no doctor”, went the old French saying.