Herbes de Provence
Submitted by KitchenBarbaria... on June 09, 2015 at 2:18 am

An easy way to make your own
Equal parts dried herbs:
Rosemary
Thyme
Basil
Oregano
Marjoram
Leaf savory
Fennel seed
OPTIONAL
French Tarragon
Italian parsley

NOTE: Many commercial variations of herbes de provence include lavender, but this ingredient was not originally part of the mixture. It may have been added for the tourist trade, according to one source. Personally I don't care for lavender, but YMMV. Add it if you like it.

Cracked rosemary is preferable. If you have whole rosemary, simply cover with a lint-free cloth or tea towel and roll over it several times with a rolling pin to break it up; or give it a quick whirl in a spice grinder - a QUICK whirl, so it doesn't get TOO broken up or turned into powder.

Blend together until all ingredients are well-dispersed. Store in an airtight jar or canister, such as a mason jar (jelly jar) or repurposed glass jar from the grocery store.

comments

Submitted by dachshundlady on Tue, 2015-06-09 15:38.
To what can savory be compared?

Submitted by KitchenBarbaria... on Wed, 2015-06-10 02:51.
I'm not really sure - I think it's just pretty much itself, like rosemary is pretty much itself.
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I've only ever seen "summer savory" before, which is usually labeled "rubbed summer savory", and I've not used that in literally decades. I think its an ingredient in poultry seasoning as well. My guess is that this is indeed "summer savory" as apparently there is a "winter savory", which is apparently somewhat bitter. I can't imagine Penzey's packaging that without specifying it on the label!
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I recall using it (summer savory) in chicken dishes. It might have been an ingredient in the stuffing I used to make - since I actually have that cookbook, let me go check: Hmmm, well, apparently only indirectly, as part of "poultry seasoning". But I remember having changed that recipe quite a bit - so I am pretty sure I had dispensed with the "poultry seasoning" and was using parsley, sage, savory, rosemary, and thyme instead. I might have been using celery leaf as well - yes, I'm sure I was - fresh celery leaf though, not the ground up stuff. Anyway.
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According to the intertubes, it is used in Bulgarian (!) cooking, and apparently some Italian dishes, mostly as seasoning for bean dishes - and by that they apparently mean FRESH beans and not dried beans.
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Also according to the intertubes, it supposedly has a flavor similar to thyme - but you know what, every single time I'm told some herb or spice "tastes like" or is "similar to" some other herb or spice, it really only tastes like itself. I guess I just don't have an active enough imagination to come up with those types of comparisons - EVERYTHING really only tastes like itself to me, in the spice-and-herb world.
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Well, and as it turns out, though they most often compare the flavor to thyme, savory is actually related to rosemary. Go figure!
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Here are 2 articles about savory:
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A history of savory + one recipe (using fresh summer savory)
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Everything you wanted to know about summer savory, and then some
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Hope that helps!

Submitted by KitchenBarbaria... on Wed, 2015-06-10 02:54. Dang, can't fix comments! Here's an actually clickable link for that second article - I hope.
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Everything you wanted to know about summer savory, and then some
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Also, its SAGE that I think usually gets packaged by the common commercial producers as "rubbed" - though I've seen the term used with savory as well. I actually don't know what that means ... more to go look up, LOL!

Submitted by KitchenBarbaria... on Wed, 2015-06-10 02:59.
HAH! "Rubbed" is basically a coarse grind - supposedly mimics what you would get if you had the dried leaf in your hands and "rubbed" it between your fingers to crumble it up. Oddly, the "rubbed" sage I remember getting in the McCormicks et al tin cans was not crumbled, but finely ground anyway. So it probably means nothing at all in the world of commercial mass-marketed spices, LOL!