Is there a difference in which thyme you can use for cooking vs. ground cover for the garden. I am pretty sure that you don't use wooly thyme for cooking, but I have 3 different thymes in my garden: a variegated thyme, Ruby glow and another unnamed green thyme which is creeping.
Anyone know which type of thyme can be used for cooking?
Thanks.
Is there a difference in thymes?
I go by scent & taste -- any thyme that tastes good to me is one that I'll use in cooking, whether it's creeping or upright or whatever. All thymes are edible, but their tastiness definitely varies -- some are bland, some have strong flavors that I don't like (camphor or piney overtones), and others have a strong, clean flavor that I just love. I think most of the variegated thymes I've seen have been English thymes, which are generally tasty. My personal favorite for cooking is French thyme, which tends to be an attractive, upright plant with small, narrow leaves.
Hope that helps!
Why thank you! I just wanted to make sure I wasn't using something that isn't intended for culinary use!
you're welcome!
It can be fun to fool around with some of the unusual ones. We found we really liked a little 'Orange Balsam' thyme with pork roast, and I have a lemon thyme (English I think) that's nice with grilled chicken... I usually put the thyme in a marinade, but a friend of mine says he just plucks a bunch of sprigs and puts them right on the grill, then puts the chicken on top of them. YMMV! :-)
LOL! If you have a *sprawling* French thyme, we may have to do some trading next year.... French thyme has been more of a challenge for me to propagate. The sprawling/creeping thymes practically layer themselves in no time, but the french thyme seems to take a long while to make roots.