Rosemary. Application of spices in cooking

Rosemary looks like a half-shrub or shrub with constantly green foliage. The height of the shrub reaches two meters, and the shrub is one. Both are very branched. The branches are densely covered with small narrow leaves, slightly curling along the edges, the top of the leaves is leathery to the touch, has a gray-green color, and the bottom is silvery-white. The plant belongs to the family of labial flowers. Rosemary blooms in spring or summer with small flowers of light blue, light-lilac color, and in warm climate blooms and on the second circle - in autumn or winter.

Rosemary is cultivated in its native land, the Western Mediterranean, and in all the subtropics, where there is enough moisture, and on the coasts of the Caucasus, Crimea, the truth is frozen if the temperature in winter falls below ten degrees below zero. With its growth near the sea, its name is also associated, which translates as "sea dew".

A pleasant aroma does not exude the whole of rosemary, it is the leaves of the plant that are used most effectively in various dishes. They are used both fresh and dry, then they become slightly darker. It is believed that the higher the place where rosemary grows, the more rocks there, the better the spice will come from it. It is even more important to properly collect the leaves: you need to choose the youngest, tender leaves from the top of the bush and not just before flowering, and even before the appearance of the first buds. That the collected leaves have preserved a pleasant aroma, reminiscent of the aroma of camphor, and a spicy-bitter taste and in dry form, you must necessarily dry them in the shade. The top of the finished leaves should be convex, and the bottom should be folded. Well-dried raw materials are extremely fragile.

Rosemary, the application of which is described in the writings of the authors of ancient Egypt, was successfully grown as a cultural plant among other spicy plants even before the Nativity of Christ.

But, despite the successful cultivation of rosemary and on the shores of the Black Sea, in the CIS it is used as a spice much less often than in European countries.

Basically, I found rosemary in cooking when cooking meat dishes. At the same time, two goals are pursued: to repulse the characteristic smell that this or that type of meat has (for example, rabbit, lamb), and at the same time give it the smell of game. Especially it concerns the meat of domestic ducks, geese, chickens, turkeys, whose aroma is significantly improved by rosemary, the application of which is as follows: fresh or dry leaves of rosemary are ground with parsley leaves and softened butter. The resulting paste is placed under the skin of the bird before frying it or stewing it.

In soups (vegetable, meat) this spice is added very little, given that her overdose or a long stay in the dish will give him an unpleasant bitterness. Simultaneously with other spices, it is not customary to use rosemary. Application of it, for example, together with a laurel leaf is not welcomed, it is necessary to be defined: either that, or another. Rosemary makes a unique "bouquet garni" - a spicy mixture, without which it is difficult to imagine French soups, whether they are meat or vegetable. By the way, the "garnish bouquet" is also left in soups for 5-6 minutes, not longer.

As a seasoning, rosemary comes in sauces, gravy from meat or fat, in pasta dishes, in vegetable dishes (from peas, cauliflower), in pizza toppings and even in fruit salads that are served for dessert.

In marinades too, sometimes put rosemary, its application is similar to the use of tarragon, although, of course, the taste attached to rosemary has its own shade.

Attention! It is important not to confuse the rosemary with a wild rosemary, which has nothing to do with any spices. It is easy to distinguish it by the tan color of the leaves from below.