Edible herbs for bouquet and seasoning

Today, at an altitude of a thousand metres, I have sweet basil, hot peppers, chilli peppers, sage, capers, lavender, mint, bay leaves, olives and rosemary all year round!

In the first issue of this magazine, I gave a rough presentation of the principal meat dishes in Croatian cookery. Now I'd like to present the spices and aromatic herbs.

The topic of spices and aromatic and edible herbs in Croatian cookery is vast, for one simple reason. Since the seventh century, the Croatian national Corpus has been located both in Mediterranean and sub-continental climates, which inevitably means an unexplored and vast variety of herbs, both edible and aromatic, as well as so many other enrichments that these climates bring with them.

Even though the variety was overwhelming, the Croat has always known how to adapt to the gifts of God, and there is much evidence of ancient usage of herbs as spices, as aromatic herbs, as food, and as medicine. The existence of one of the oldest pharmacies in this part of the world is proof of the medicinal properties of our local herbs.

To be more precise, in the late Middle Ages the Franciscans had a Pharmaceutical institute in Dubrovnik , i.e. the Republic of Dubrovnik - the first Pharmacy in the Adriatic . Even Gutenberg, together with The Bible printed the Franciscan Healing Handbook to instruct the uninformed. Actually, what St Benedict (the Patron of Europe and the Father of Western Monasticism) wished for was fully realised in our native area!

Through the Healing Handbook, seasonings, aromatic herbs and edible herbs were introduced. Or perhaps it was Marco Polo (from the Island of Korcula off the coast of Dubrovnik ) that influenced the locals when he brought back wheat pasta, wheat flour and numerous other spices and aromatic herbs from China.

The Adriatic , in fact, really introduced the Croats to beauty and travel, but also to trade, slavery and labouring for foreign masters. And all of that inevitably brought us innovations in cultivation and the use of new customs, or mixing these with the existing cultures which we didn't know about previously. Hence, our attention was brought to them and we are richer for the new experience, regardless of which social structure we belonged to.

The full article can be found on pages 80-81 of Vol 2
2007 issue.