Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Lemon Thyme

One can't think of lemon-scented herbs 
like lemon verbena and lemon balm
without also adding lemon thyme to the list.


According to the article Thyme and Lemon Thyme,
Greek "thymos" meant spirit or smoke,
and thyme was used much like incense 
for many generations before it became a common culinary herb.
Lemon thyme is a hybrid though, 
developed more recently along with other thyme flavors.

Arthur Lee Jacobson, 
described on his website as a plant expert and writer,
lists a number of thyme hybrid varieties in his article 
"Thymes--Aromatic Little Herbs that Warm our Hearts."


Jacobson lists quite a few exotic thyme flavors,
including coconut, caraway, nutmeg, and pineapple, to name a few. 
See the full list at this link:  

For cooking, lemon thyme is the most popular thyme.
Lemon thyme is supposed to grow well  in sandy, dry soil
as long as it receives full sun.
So it would be a good choice for the Shire.

Photo of thyme flower, www.kitchenheadquarters.com

I have some regular thyme growing, 
interspersed with impatiens.
The thyme doesn't get full sun so it is kind of long and tender,
but that makes it look feathery--
a nice counterpoint to the roundness of the impatiens flowers.

I've never grown lemon thyme, however.
Maybe next year I will do a planting of lemon herbs:
lemon verbena, lemon balm, and lemon thyme.
But I think the  pot would need to be painted yellow--
lemon yellow, of course.
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