Aromas

Shrubby evergreen plants like rosemary, myrtle, juniper, the various thymes, wild marjoram (origano), winter savory, are infinitely more fragrant in the wild. This also applies to the scented leaves of the bay laurel, native in the south, where even its bark is perfumed. The fennel seeds and fronds used in southern cooking derive from the wild plant, having greater pungency. The sage, Salvia triloba, growing wild in Greece is more delicate than S officinalis, the cultivated herb, and so is wild clary, S verbenaca, growing on Italian mountainsides. (For more about all these plants, see the final chapter.)